Last week Pittsburgh City Councilman and CEOs for Cities partner William Peduto held a groundbreaking for an innovative new outdoor learning environment in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Plaza.

Joined in the announcement by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Florida-based partner N21, Peduto described the project as “the type…

James Chung of Reach Advisors had a big message for the Pacific Coast Builders Conference today:  There is a serious mismatch between trade up housing inventory and demand.  One reason is changing demographics.  The peak age for trade up is 46, and Boomers have now passed that age.  The next…

Pittsburgh Councilman and CEOs for Cities member Bill Peduto fired back at Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's plans to tax the city's college students to fill budget gaps.  While the mayor is looking for new revenue, Councilman Peduto says this is not the place to get it.  Here are his comments…

Pittsburgh has been featured in headlines across the country for its impressive story of urban renewal. This recent article highlights Venture Outdoors, an organization that takes advantage of the distinctive assets available in Pittsburgh.  With the city's center at the convergence of three rivers and surrounded…

Entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the natural advantages cities offer to kids.  Urban Baby Tours, highlighted in this Pop City article, offers walking tours that explore all the city of Pittsburgh has to offer for parents and their little ones.  What a great ambassador for downtown family…

One more thought on Pittsburgh... The NYT noted that Pittsburgh had not experienced a housing boom, which has left the city in stronger shape as the housing market tanked.  One thing the article did not note is that Pittsburgh is far more centralized and economically integrated than most major…

Take a look at Pittsburgh's Citiwiki that invites citizens to offer their own ideas to develop an intelligent, easy-to-use transportation system that works for people of every stripe?

The goal of the Wiki is to harness the considerable intellectual firepower of the Pittsburgh region's thoughtful citizenry to help transform…

That's the theme of the 2008 International Urban Parks Conference that begins today in Pittsburgh. I'll be speaking briefly on a panel tomorrow with Trust for Public Land President Will Rogers, New York's Director of the Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability Rohit Aggarwala and Brookings VP and…

Having just been to Pittsburgh for our Spring National Conference, I was pleased to see this cover story in USA Today's Life section, which calls for a re-boot of people's perception of The Steel City.  This once one-industry town seems to suffer from a lagging image of its past,…

A heavy two weeks of meetings with urban leaders in cities across the country left me with several thoughts:

Urban leaders are scrambling to figure out how to respond to high gas prices, and transit is a priority for mayors everywhere. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has made…

Leaders from a dozen former textile cities in Europe gathered in Tilburg, Netherlands, last week to share lessons learned.  CEOs for Cities president and CEO Carol Coletta was asked to comment on their comeback stories and compare them to a U.S. city with its own comeback story.

The…