The Creative Cities Network will convene for its third meeting following our National Meeting.  This post-conference session will be held Nov. 7, 2008 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Between two existing paradigms for cities expressed by Tom Friedman’s ‘race-to-the-bottom,’ flat world view versus Richard Florida and Bill Bishop’s spiky world, perhaps a third paradigm emerges in the creative cities world view.

In this ‘Third Way,’ all cities have the inherent potential to succeed in today’s social and economic context by tapping the potential that exists in their assets, connections and people. The key differentiator for cities and their success will depend on how a city unleashes, connects and grows this creative capacity.

This third meeting will build upon the insights of the Network’s conversations to date to generate ideas and strategies for enriching the creative performance of our cities.

CEOs for Cities members interested in joining this conversation can contact Rebecca Eggleston at reggleston@ceosforcities.org or by reserving your spot online by logging onto www.ceosforcities.org/meetings.

Two days after the Presidential election, CEOs for Cities will convene in Chicago for a special one-day meeting to challenge the President-elect and his transition team to establish a new era of cooperation between the Federal government and America's cities.

At a national press conference during the Nov. 6 meeting, our network of urban leaders will commit itself to innovative bottom-up initiatives and will ask a fresh-start Administration to meet us halfway in a collaborative working relationship to make the best of difficult times.

Representing the nation’s primary source of wealth, employment and global competitiveness, urban leaders will ask for a new attitude from the federal government – an attitude of encouragement and support for nation-building at the grassroots. For its part, CEOs for Cities will roll out at this special session three strategies the organization has derived from years of research into how to grow and to green urban economies.

The three strategies will be detailed at the members-only meeting and later to the press. CEOs' Talent Dividend, Green Dividend, and Core Vitality Dividend show projected urban gross regional product growth – in dollar terms – from progressive improvement in clearly defined areas of human capital development, environmental improvement, and core-city revitalization. This alone makes it a must-attend meeting.

In an era of fiscal constraint at every level of government, CEOs for Cities intends to show two days after election day that its unique membership of city mayors, urban university presidents, business leaders, and city-based philanthropists is a creative problem-solving force that has innovated practical economy-building – and people-building – initiatives worthy of the federal government’s attention and respect.

On Thursday, Nov. 6 we'll convene promptly at 8:30 a.m. with agenda-setting conversations through 3:30 p.m. Plan to join us for a special evening event to kick off the meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 5, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. If you can stay an extra day, we have small group meetings on current and future initiatives, including the Creative Cities Network, Friday morning that will wrap up by 1 p.m.

The full agenda will be available in the coming weeks.

For more information, contact Bridget Marquis at bmarquis@ceosforcities.org.

Too many urban leaders still operate under old assumptions when it comes to planning for their cities' futures. In her speech to the Tennssessee Municipal League, CEOs for Cities president and CEO Carol Coletta, discusses what leaders must pay attention to today and how they must respond to new realities affecting our communities. Read her comments by downloading the PDF file below.

Seventy-two percent of political donors strongly agree that America cannot be strong without strong cities, and they view cities as the solution for some of the country's most pressing problems, including job growth and development, according to a new survey released today by CEOs for Cities and Living Cities. See Celinda Lake's presentation on the findings below:

Download the press release here.

Be sure to mark your calendar for our next National Meeting in Chicago - a day-long meeting on November 6 to review election results and their implications for cities. More to come on the agenda, speakers and hotel information.

A new analysis shows that high gas prices are not only implicated in the bursting of the housing bubble, but that the higher cost of commuting has already re-shaped the landscape of real estate value between cities and suburbs. Housing values are falling fastest in distant suburban and exurban neighborhoods where affordability depended directly on cheap gas. Read the press release here. Download the full study here.

We can have two different reactions to an economic recession: panic or plan. We can panic, pull in our horns and hang on for dear life. Or we can think past the current trauma and look ahead to think about the world we'll be competing in once the storm passes. People in the technology industry talk about inflection points, where fundamental change reshapes markets. Cities can clearly see a coming inflection point-driven by economic challenges, globalization, and climate change. What can city leaders do today to position their cities not simply to survive, but to thrive, as these changes unfold?

That's the issue we'll address at our next National Meeting, May 13-14 in Pittsburgh on Next Generation Cities: Finding New Sources of Strength in Tough Times.

RSVP now for this meeting by downloading the agenda complete with RSVP information. REMINDER: THIS MEETING IS FOR CEOS FOR CITIES MEMBERS ONLY.

Questions? Email Kristian Buschmann at kbuschmann@ceosforcities.org.

How can city leaders use design to foster the "happy accidents" that come from idea sharing and innovation?

That's the question we'll begin to answer when CEOs for Cities with Steelcase hosts "Places of Innovation" at the Steelcase Global Headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI, February 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The full agenda can be found here.

Open to members only, please contact Kristian Buschmann at kbuschmann@ceosforcities.org for more information. RSVPs are requested by January 25.

Following last May's meeting on Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success in San Jose and the white paper that followed, CEOs for Cities is set to launch the City Anchors Learning Network on November 30 to apply those findings on the ground in member cities.

Urban leaders from Boston, Detroit, Lansing and St. Louis will work together over an 18-month period to gain new insights and invent new ways for:

• Anchor institutions to enliven communities and make them more dynamic places that trigger people's imaginations, emotions and desire to learn.

   

 

• Anchor institutions to become "networked places"where various types of institutions are cooperating toward common ends.

   

To find out more about this Learning Network click here.

If you're interested in becoming involved in future Learning Networks email Kristian Buschmann at kbuschmann@ceosforcities.org.

The Green Dividend was the topic of a major event in Tampa Bay. When civic leaders there learned their region was foregoing serious money with land use and public investment that forces long trips and excessive reliance on cars, it set off a public debate. Read the press coverage below:

Portland keen to teach green
St. Petersburg Times, 10/23/07
By Christina Rexrod
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/23/Business/Portland_keen_to_teac.shtml

Economist: Going green pays dividends
WMNF-Radio, Evening News, 10/23/07
By Seán Kinane

http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/show/4847
Blog posting of WMNF story

Benefits of Going “Green”
WUSF-89.7, 10/23
By Steve Newborn

http://www.wusf.usf.edu/WUSF-FM/NEWS/News_Detail_TVLk.cfm?ID=724

Joe Cortright: "The paint is still wet..."
Creative Loafing, 10/17/07
By Wayne Garcia

http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=320716

A green approach can pay off in green
St. Petersburg Times, 10/24/07
By Ernest Hooper

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/24/Columns/A_green_approach_can_.shtml

Green Dividend Is A Big Payback
South Tampa News, 10/24/07
By Joe O’Neill

http://www.tbo.com/southtampa/MGBASTIQ38F.html

Economist in Tampa: Efficient 'green' transportation creates major reinvestment capital
Tampa Bay Business Journal, 10/09/07

http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/10/08/daily27.html