Quality urban design and economic development Saturday, May 08, 2004 Building quality, connected places represents one of the central challenges in economic development in the years ahead. Smart people can live anywhere. They will choose to live in regions which pays attention to the details of quality urban design. Increasingly, we will be seeing the integration of urban design and economic development in leading edge communities. In rural areas, leading communities will embrace Main Street programs. States will support rural redevelopment by promoting quality design through programs like Renaissance Kentucky. (Learn more.) In metro regions, the issues are more complex, but no less important. Here's an example of a good resource from Kansas City. Go. At the state level, we are seeing this issue emerge through the growing attention to "smart growth" or redevelopment of existing infrastructure. Here's an update, for example, of what has been happening in Alabama, Mississippi, and Ohio. (In earlier posts this week, I also noted the challenges of "no growth, sprawl" in places like Pennsylvania and quality growth in South Carolina.) Importantly, these new initiatives transcend the old divide of "pro-growth" versus "no growth". They focus on a much more important issue of how to support quality, sustainable growth. In the past month, the European Union has released an insightful report on sustainable urban design. The report explores these issues, including the costs of sprawl and the challenges of building an affordable infrastructure to support growth. You can download the report from this page. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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