May 28, 2013 at 7:05 am CDT Despite the hipster surroundings in which I work, I’m not a huge fan of irony. The first enclosed shopping mall was Southdale Center in Edina, Minn. It was developed in 1956 by Victor Gruen. A fantastic new PBS show called 10 Buildings That…

May 6, 2013 at 9:53 am CDT People in their 20s are behaving very differently than previous generations. They’re getting married later, having kids later and buying homes later. In many cases, they’re making it all the way through their 20s having done none of those things. Many wonder if…

Should Cities Invest in Biking? Why Small Growth Matters. March 11, 2013 at 9:50 am CDT Numbers are funny things. Much of the conversation in the livability space and in discussions of revitalizing downtowns comes down to transportation in the end. Cars are inefficient because they often transport only one…

Pro Sports Teams Boost Community Spirit, Not Economies October 31, 2013 at 4:00 am CDT Walk around any professional sports venue on game day and you’ll observe what sure looks like an economic boost. Fans fill local restaurants and bars. Stores sell hats, shirts, baby shoes and just about anything…

Richard Florida: The Livability.com Interview (Part I) October 18, 2013 at 7:49 am CDT What makes a city a great place to live? We sat down with Richard Florida, the best-selling author of Rise of the Creative Class , senior editor of The Atlantic and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, which helped us create our new Livability Index . He took the time to chat after his keynote address at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce annual meeting.

The History of Livability: What’s Changed? October 16, 2013 at 9:09 am CDT “Just what such words as ‘progress’ and ‘civilization’ mean is often disputed, but no one doubts that they exist,” H.L. Mencken, then editor of the American Mercury magazine, wrote in 1931. …

What a Swamp Rabbit Knows About Main Street Revitalization October 8, 2013 at 6:59 am CDT How do you amp up your main street revitalization projects? Many ideas are pitched as quick fixes: If you just do this , it will reverse decades of demographic and consumer shifts. Overnight! …

Kids in Poverty: A Problem for All Cities on the First Day of School August 26, 2013 at 10:31 am CDT Today in my city 400,000 students will take part in the first-day-of-school ritual. It’s not a happy day for everyone. It’s not a hopeful day for everyone. Forty-seven fewer…

Lou Reed was a great urban rock-n-roller. Was he also a near victim of the American Dream? In urbanism, as in rock-n-roll, Lou Reed was ahead of his time. Lou Reed was a quintessential New Yorker and one of its finest storytellers. For his album, New York, it becomes a…