Monday, September 10, 2007
Lowell, Massachusetts has often been held out as a success story in urban regeneration in the United States.
The basic strategy focused on building big projects: publicly-led economic development. These projects included, for example, a riverfront baseball stadium. Now, however, people are beginning to reassess the Lowell strategy. Read more.
Standing alone, publicly-led projects generate few jobs. That is, I think, the major lesson of Lowell. Based on my experience in the transformation of Oklahoma City, successful regeneration needs publicly-led strategies that are closely coordinated with privately-led strategies.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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.
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.
Learning the lessons of Lowell
