Economic Development

Real Estate may save us after all, say strategists Christopher Leinberger and Patrick Doherty, but only if it responds to a growing demand for walkable, dynamic neighborhoods.  Real estate represents 35% of our economy’s asset base, so its recovery is essential to the country’s “economic renaissance.”  However, write Leinberger and Doherty in a recent article, changing housing preferences driven by Millennials and aging baby boomers will make that recovery look quite different than previous decades:

Bridge Builders Award

For the Initiative’s innovative approach to creating sustainable cities through the cross-disciplinary engagement of scholars, community leaders, and project partners.

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

For his contributions to the Baltimore community through his leadership at MICA and local organizations involved in the arts.

William H. Whyte Award

For his contributions to creating more environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable communities through his work as a developer, academic, and author.

“When you start with everything, you start with nothing,” Beth Osborne, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy at the US Department of Transportation (DOT), stated of the importance to narrow the focus of a livability agenda in order to be effective.

At Partners’ recent forum on September 22, “Building Livable Communities: Creating a Common Agenda”, many discussed livability’s ubiquitous nature on both macro and micro levels. The panelists spoke of the need for access and affordability to the many factors that serve as part of a system to create livable communities: transportation, housing, and education, to name a few. But when does a boundless agenda for livability, incorporating all relatable factors that serve to shape a livable community, become unproductive? In brief,  what is the ‘tipping point’ for livability?