February 2008
Chicago's Green Dividend
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.
October 2007
Remixing Cities
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.
Read the full report (PDF 316 KB)
October 2007
City Advantage
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.
Read the full report (PDF 699 KB)
September 2007
| connected, distinctive, innovative, talented
Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success
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.
Read the full report (PDF 836 KB)
July 2007
Portland's Green Dividend
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.
Read the full report (PDF 191 KB)
May 2007
Kids in Cities
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.
Read the full report (PDF 6.28 MB)
February 2007
Strengthening Portal Neighborhoods
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.
Read the full report (PDF 724 KB)
October 2006
CityVitals: New Measures of Success for Cities
Urban leaders seeking success in the new economy should stop paying attention to ubiquitous city rankings and start focusing their attentions on four dimensions of success: talent, innovation, connections and distinctiveness, according to a new report released by CEOs for Cities.
CityVitals, developed by Portland-based economist Joseph Cortright in partnership with CEOs for Cities, lays out the rationale for the things cities must be really good at doing today and a new set of metrics – 20 in all – to measure their progress.
Read the full report here. CityVitals books are available for purchase for $19.95 + s&h here. You may also download a presentation on CityVitals by clicking here.
June 2006
| talented
Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities
Two-thirds of highly mobile 25 to 34 year-olds with college degrees say that they will decide where they live first, then look for a job, according to a new survey commissioned by CEOs for Cities and conducted by The Segmentation Company, a division of marketing consultancy Yankelovich Inc. Read the highlights of the study by clicking the link below. CEOs for Cities members may request a full copy of the report by emailing sredick@ceosforcities.org.
Read the full report (PDF 136 KB)
May 2006
| innovative
Financing the 21st Century City
Financing traditional public services through market-based, consumer-oriented policies has resulted in special authorities, BIDs, homeowners’ associations, privatization of infrastructure and a whole host of other new techniques. How did we get here and what is the decision space for today’s policymakers? The latest research sponsored by CEOs for Cities attempts to answer those questions. Mike Pagano, fellow at University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute directed the research, and shared his findings during CEOs for Cities spring meeting. For Mike's PowerPoint presentation, click here.
Read the full report (PDF 844 KB)
May 2006
| distinctive
Branding Your City
Cities have always been brands in the truest sense of the word. As international place branding authority Simon Anholt writes, “Unless you’ve lived in a particular city or have a good reason to know a lot about it, the chances are that you think about it in terms of a handful of qualities or attributes, a promise, some kind of story. That simple brand narrative can have a major impact on your decision to visit the city, to buy its products or services, to do business there, or even to relocate there." CEOs for Cities with brand strategy firm Prophet developed this paper as guide to branding your city.
Read the full report (PDF 126 KB)
December 2005
| innovative
40 Ideas for the Future
Governing columnist Otis White leads a conversation among the nation's most provocative thinkers on the under-the-radar developments that could change your city's future.
Read the full report (PDF 315 KB)
December 2005
| connected, distinctive, innovative, talented
100 Point Type: Tomorrow's Banner Headlines Today
Walker Smith, who heads Yankelovich Partners and is one of the leading expert on the tracking and forecasting of consumer values and lifestyle trends, shared his insights into the paradox of the desire for connection without community with CEOs for Cities at its December 2005 national meeting.
Read the full report (PDF 229 KB)
December 2005
| innovative, talented
The Young and Restless in a Knowledge Economy
Joe Cortright, Impresa Consulting | CEOs for Cities
The U.S. is on the verge of a seismic shift in labor markets, and fault lines will emerge to threaten a city's economic future unless it succeeds in attracting the young, college-educated workers who propel today's knowledge-based economy...
Read the full report (PDF 755 KB)
September 2004
Grads and Fads: The Dynamics of Human Capital Location
In the knowledge economy, human capital is a critical component of economic growth. The American population is becoming more educated, but some cities' populations are becoming educated at a faster rate than others...
Read the full report (PDF 1.26 MB)
April 2004
The New Markets Tax Credit Program A Briefing Paper: How This New Incentive Can Strengthen America's Cities
Although the program is in the early stages and its full potential has yet to be explored, economic development practitioners insist that the NMTC program is a much-needed catalyst for private-sector investments. Used correctly, they say, the NMTC program can close financing gaps and bring difficult, previously stalled projects to fruition.
Read the full report (PDF 204 KB)
April 2004
How Business and Civic Leaders Can Make a Big Difference in Public Education
Despite nearly two decades of well-publicized efforts, many young people – a majority in whole sectors of some big cities – are unprepared.
Read the full report (PDF 263 KB)
April 2004
System Change Goes to School: New Opportunities for Civic Leadership in K-12 Education in American Cities
The future of cities depends on better schools. Acknowledging the now vast array of worthwhile school improvement efforts, a growing number among school reformers say that while committed to public education, they no longer believe that mandating performance change within the same system will prove sufficient.
Read the full report (PDF 345 KB)
March 2004
The Changing Dynamics of Urban America
For the first time in modern American history, population and income growth no longer tend to go together. Cities do not need to grow big to grow wealthy, and growing big does not necessarily lead to wealth...
Read the full report (PDF 2.13 MB)
October 2003
Spreading the Wealth: Building a Tech Economy in Small- and Medium-Sized Regions
The tech boom of the 1990s created many successful companies, significant wealth, and expanded job opportunities in a new and growing sector of the nation’s economy. However, the benefits of technology development have largely accrued to a relatively small number of regions nationwide leaving many other communities both envious of this success and interested in replicating it.
Read the full report (PDF 356 KB)
February 2003
What the IT Revolution Means for Economic Development
Information technology (IT) saturated American business in the 1990s, and countless new companies sprang up around Internet applications. In response, economic development officials across the country have tried to catch the “tech” wave by stimulating the growth of high technology companies and “clusters.”
Read the full report (PDF 152 KB)
October 2002
Seizing City Assets: Ten Steps to Urban Land Reform
One of the city's greatest assets is its available land for development. Unfortunately, many cities have land and properties that are vacant, abandoned or under-used, with few policies and regulations in place to convert them into revenue-generating, valuable sites...
Read the full report (PDF 777 KB)
April 2002
Leveraging Colleges and Universities
As enduring components in a community, our nation’s urban colleges and universities should be viewed as key institutions in urban economies and economic revitalization... Read the Case Studies. (PDF 460 KB)
Read the full report (PDF 714 KB)
March 2002
The New Metropolitan Alliances: Regional Collaboration for Economic Development
As we enter the new century, the nation’s cities face a new reality and challenge. Recent Census data reveal that as the distinctions between urban and suburban economies are becoming more transparent, so are demographic distinctions within regions becoming more blurry. The uneven conditions of poor “minority-majority” cities surrounded by wealthy white suburbs are no longer a common reality. While cities have recently enjoyed increases in population and decreases in crime, older suburbs are facing increases in crime, unemployment, and poverty formerly seen only in inner cities.
Read the full report (PDF 358 KB)
December 2001
Ten Steps in a High Tech Future: The New Economy in Metropolitan Seattle
This study was sparked by a sense that there may be something replicable and valuable in the Seattle story, a lesson about the geographic distribution of growth that leaders in other cities may want to understand.
Read the full report (PDF 1.86 MB)
May 2001
Competitive Cities: A New Urban Agenda
Unprecedented access to capital, booming retail opportunities, and astonishing reductions in crime, all point to an upward trend in cities. While there is still much to be done, cities are by and large doing better at the beginning of the 21st century, after decades of decline. Presented to President George W. Bush and the 107th Congress.
Read the full report (PDF 169 KB)
April 2001
Cities and Economic Prosperity: A Data Scan of the Role of Cities in Regional and National Economies
Robert Weissbourd, RW Ventures | Christopher Berry, ShoreBank
- We have become a metropolitan nation. 75%-90% of economic assets and drivers are in metro areas (population, businesses, jobs, income, assets, tax payments, GDP and exports)...
Read the full report (PDF 1.76 MB)
October 2000
Urban Economic Prospects in the New Knowledge Economy
Rob Atkinson, Progressive Policy Institute
- High tech industry is growing.
- High tech industry flourishes through clustering, investment in infrastructure and talent...
Read the full report (PDF 240 KB)