Finding people and organizations to partner with often comes down to personal relationships - who you know. But is this the best way?

CEOs for Cities member and City Anchors Learning Network participant John Schaerer developed this piece on creating intentional institutional partnerships. Though the work was originally intended to be shared with the Learning Network group, we thought it important to share with the broader membership. The piece holds intrinsic value for anyone interested in finding new ways to partner in order to achieve big goals.



John Schaerer is the Director of Technology Development and Transfer at the Enterprise Center in Chattanooga. Any questions or comments regarding his Institutional Alignment piece should be directed to john-schaerer@utc.edu.

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.

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.

While two miles per day may not seem like much, do the math and it adds up to $2.3 billion for the local economy.

This companion piece to Portland's Green Dividend looks at the impact of Chicagoland residents driving 10 percent fewer miles every day. Download the report here.

Want to know your city's green dividend? Contact Bridget Marquis at bmarquis@ceosforcities.org to find out more about commissioning a Green Dividend study for your city.

Cities innovate when people mix and mingle, sharing and combining ideas from different vantage points and traditions. That mixing takes place on shared infrastructures and in shared spaces that bring people together, according to urban innovation expert Charles Leadbeater.

Remixing Cities: Strategy 2.0 explores how co-creation and innovation can transform public services and unleash the talents of all citizens.

Download the full report by clicking here.

Cities provide big economic advantages for consumers: wider variety, more convenience, discovery and greater economic opportunity. These attributes underpin urban success, and strengthening these assets helps build metropolitan economies, according to a new study commissioned by CEOs for Cities called "City Advantage," written by Joseph Cortright. Download the report here.

How can cities turn traditional urban amenities into new urban assets that "contribute significantly to urban success?" That's the question we set out to answer with CEOs for Cities members and national experts when we convened in San Jose for our National Meeting on "Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success" in May. What resulted was a rich discussion that yielded a wide range of strategies that many anchor institutions have employed, as well as identification of the "common principles that emerged across institution types." These discussions were the basis for a white paper circulated among attendees, many of whom offered invaluable feedback, which was incorporated into the final paper. Inspired by the first piece of research released by CEOs for Cities produced by Dr. Michael Porter, titled "Leveraging Colleges and Universities for Urban Economic Revitalization," this new research expands that thinking to apply it to community colleges, parks, libraries, performing arts centers, museums, hospitals and sports teams. Read the final report here.

What if you could add $2.6 billion annually to your local economy? That's what Portland has effectively done by getting its citizens to drive just 4 fewer miles a day, according to a briefing paper by our colleague Joe Cortright called Portland's Green Dividend. What Joe found has big implications for urban leaders across the country. As a result of enacting a growth boundary, increased density, mixed land uses, and investments in public transportation, walking and biking, Portlanders are saving time and money on transportation that gets funneled back into the local economy. Critics have long characterized Portlanders as "depriving themselves in the name of saving the environment." Some have argued that "planning, policies and regulations that restrict use or access to resources impede growth and lower household income." But the new study found that assumption is simply not true. There is, in fact, a Green Dividend that accrues to cities willing to make certain choices about urban form and transportation.

Attracting and retaining talent is top-of-mind for urban leaders today. Yet, many cities are at risk of losing talented workers as they start families and have children. CEOs for Cities commissioned researchers at the Institute of Design to get beyond the obvious to help us understand what can cities do to retain these workers and their families. And since 25-34 year-olds are 30 percent more likely than other Americans to live within a 3-mile radius of the CBD, there is an important market that will go missing if they leave when the kids come. After nine months of research and development, ID researchers have completed their concept papers for our network. The final report can be downloaded by clicking here. We are working now with urban leaders from Chicago, Portland and Akron to develop and test concepts to support and scale the behaviors of urban families as part of CEOs for Cities' first-ever Learning Network. Their work will be documented over the next 18 months and will provide general insights for urban leaders from all cities to address this opportunity. Learning Networks are a new initiative developed by CEOs for Cities that bring a small number of member cities together to collaborate on a particular project over an 18-month engagement. Topics of the Learning Networks are driven by members’ interests. Learning Networks focus on a single pressing theme and are aimed explicitly at converting the insights produced from our research into action in local communities. The Kids in Cities Learning Network is an exciting opportunity to take groundbreaking, first-look research and translate it to on-the-ground action that will produce big wins for cities. For more information on this and other planned Learning Networks, contact Kristian Buschmann at kbuschmann@ceosforcities.org.

Immigration is dramatically changing cities. With immigrants fueling a projected population increase in the U.S. of 130 million over the next four decades, "Portal Neighborhoods" are being recognized as an important tool for integration and economic opportunity, according to a new report by CEOs for Cities. "Strengthening Portal Neighborhoods," released with support from Bank of America, identifies these neighborhoods as key to successfully integrating immigrants into the economic and social mainstream in America. It urges urban leaders to develop a new set of policies and strategies that take into account the purpose and functions of these neighborhoods, which continue to grow in importance as the immigrant population swells. The paper comes after CEOs for Cities convened national immigration experts in Miami in May 2006 to discuss these neighborhoods and develop recommendations for urban leaders. Download the full paper on Strengthening Portal Neighborhoods by clicking here. You may download the background paper by clicking here.