11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#10...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#10..."They have big plans"...

One of the quotes that has been most influential in my life goes like this:

"We overestimate how much we can accomplish in a year, and we underestimate how much we can accomplish in 10 years."

Both sides of this are so true!  I see it more and more the more years I have in the rearview mirror.

And it seems worth noting that properly estimating what can be accomplished in the 10-year window is far different than living in the future.  As a matter of fact, living in the future is likely one of the most significant causes of overestimating what can be accomplished in a year.  But paradoxically, part of what we must plan to accomplish in the year, is making big plans for the 10 years.

We can't just plan.  We must not simply do.  The planning and the doing must learn to dance!

It is true for individuals.  And apparently it is true for cities as well!

11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#9...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#9..."They make themselves open"...

Love this one!  Honesty, integrity and forthrightness are the way to go.  Period!

Unfortunately, today, openness seems to be the exception rather than the norm.  This then brings us again back to changing society through telling an alternative story.  Unfortunately, in many cases, leading out with proactive openness is an alternative story.  And yet, the implication is that change can find it's birth through the seemingly simple act of openness.

Openness is a choice.  Openness is something we make ourselves.

Not an accident, but a conscientious choice.  Why not, as individuals and societies, make the choice?

11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#8...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#8..."They have unusual schools"...

It has been said, "If you want to change society, you have to tell an alternative story."

One of the most significant engines for change is undoubtedly education.  However, one need not research very deeply to see that there is much that seems to be broken about the American education system.

The good news is, this story doesn't have to continue to be the dominate storyline.  There is another story...an alternative story.  Voices like Sir Ken Robinson, Seth Godin, and many others are championing this very worthy cause to imagine a school system that looks very different.  An approach that values the "unusual school".

The school system is in need of serious change.  It is beautifully informative that the cities that are embracing unusual schools are also the cities that are succeeding.

Can "unusual schools" grow to the point where they are no longer "unusual" but rather are the "usual"?

11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#7...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#7..."They have, and care about, a community college"...

I must admit, of all 11 predictors, this one was by far the most surprising to me.  It is certainly the one that caught me the most off guard.

And yet, as I internalize what would seem to lie behind this sort of predictor, I value what it seems to me to point towards.

And what does it seem to point towards?

A vibrant, thriving city needs people who are being stretched and grown at all levels of society.

Proximity to a research university provides great things, but those things are largely segregated towards a certain portion of the population.  Pairing the research university with a cared about community college represents a more complete ladder for a larger portion of society to be climbing on together.

I must also admit that I have largely been biased towards large research-type universities and haven't given much attention or credit to what a community college offers.  A community college's presence in a list of predictors of a successful city opens my eyes to the fact that I need to respect and value the community college.

11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#6...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#6..."They are near a research university"...

I have spent the past 17 years in the university setting and there is something at the core of my being that deeply affirms the connection between universities and thriving cities.

In part, it seems there is a significant tie between the city and the economic drivers that the university creates and breeds.  On the other hand, it seems there is something more abstract and mysterious that university environments produce.

Some trends would seem to indicate that the success of the "traditional" university may begin to falter as we continue to move into the future. The tie to successful cities, however, would indicate something quite different.  

Universities will undoubtedly need to continue to innovate and change, but their close tie to the success of cities leads me to believe that universities will continue to be mainstays of our society for a long time to come.

11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#5...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#5..."They have a downtown"...

There is something beautifully simple and yet deeply profound about this characteristic.

A downtown has a way of "moving" something inside of a person...possibly even within the soul.

A downtown is the antithesis of "nature" and yet there is something incredibly "natural" about a downtown.

It is incredibly difficult to describe, and impossible to write a proof statement for, but that a successful city has a downtown makes perfect sense to me.

11 Signs a City Will Succeed...#4...

James Fallows recently wrote a fascinating article in The Atlantic based on research conducted by he and his wife.  The article lays out 11 key factors that seem to point to the success of a city.

Read the entire article here.

This set of posts offers musings on each of the 11 signs.

#4..."People know the civic story"...

Story is at the core of both the human spirit and human condition. (if you are not convinced of this fact, check out some of Donald Miller's great work) Therefore it is only fitting that a civilization of these very humans would also have a story.

The great irony is that while we are a people rooted in story, we are also incredibly adept at losing sight of our stories.  We, like it or not, need to keep telling our stories or being told them, otherwise we will simply forget.

Maybe the cities that don't succeed simply don't have stories.  Maybe they are just lame and boring.  I tend to think this is not the case.  My guess is that just like people, cities are prone to forget their stories.

Seems to me there must be people, or groups of people, who actively commit themselves to the act of knowing, remembering and telling story.