Paul Krugman: Sprawl may be to blame for low social mobility

Champions of older cities long ago criticized suburbs (or, worse, exurbs) on aesthetic grounds. Then they pointed out the environmental damage of sprawl. Now comes data suggesting that the dispersal of homes and jobs from urban areas is bad economics. This week New York Times columnist Paul Krugman used the occasion of Detroit pleading bankruptcy

Holyoke’s Lyman Terrace Study Pitches Transformative Redevelopment

A new plan to develop the Lyman Terrace public housing complex in downtown Holyoke could spur revitalization, according to a new report prepared by Utile with support from MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. The report, created through a joint partnership between the Holyoke Housing Authority (HHA), the City of Holyoke, the Massachusetts Development Finance

Transformative redevelopment heating up

Ben Forman delivered an opening address on the concept of Transformative Redevelopment at a MassDevelopment event on Wednesday. The daylong forum, billed as “Lessons in Transformative Economic Development,” brought together leaders from several Gateway Cities, including Fitchburg, Leominster, and Worcester. The transformative redevelopment discussion continued Wednesday afternoon at the State House before the House Committee on

Burying the Lead?

To a striking degree, conventional wisdom holds that the future belongs to large, agglomerating cities with “thick labor markets” that support high-tech innovation. It is an article of faith advanced by influential urban economists Richard Florida and Edward Glaeser, who call for nurturing the “megaregions” that have emerged victorious from post-1970s global market restructuring. Labor

Kids in San Francisco get head start in financial skills

One way to strengthen Gateway Cities is to help families build assets that provide long-term economic stability. In Massachusetts, the Midas Collaborative provides financial education to low-income families and also operates matching-fund programs to encourage long-range saving. As Governing magazine reports, the city of San Francisco is going further by making financial skills part of its

Demonstrating the Transformative Redevelopment potential of Creative Placemaking through photography

Artists can play a major role in transformative redevelopment because they see space through a different lens, imagining authentic new uses for buildings that increase neighborhood vitality, and draw new investment to abutting properties. Help us demonstrate the opportunities that creative placemakers can unlock in your community. Send along examples of cultural projects that have been

New Grant offers help for vacant properties in the Gateway Cities

Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office recently launched a grant program that aims to help communities with high levels of distressed and vacant properties revitalize properties for residential use. The grant, called the “Distressed Properties Identification and Revitalization Grant” will accept applications from Gateway Cities and other municipalties that have high rates of distressed properties. Individual applicant

New York sees value, potential in its “Legacy Cities”

Massachusetts is not the only state seeking to realize the potential of its older industrial cities. In New York, the favored term is “Legacy Cities,” but ongoing efforts to revitalize upstate urban areas such as Syracuse and Rochester share many strategies and goals with the Bay State’s Gateway Cities initiative. It may be instructive to

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