I am a bi-monthly columnist for Governing magazine, the leading publication for state and local government officials.
- America’s Demographic Winter (April 2022)
- Breaking Out the New Mid-South as a Place and Culture of Its Own (March 2022)
- America Discovers Columbus (February 2022)
- The Joys and Challenges of Being a Hot City (January 2022)
- We’re a Suburban Nation. We Need to Get Used to It. (December 2021)
- Why the ‘Old North’ States Have Been Economic Laggards (November 2021)
- The Poor Places That Made Our Cities Richer (October 2021)
- Vermont and the Contradictions of Place (September 2021)
- Our Infrastructure Problem Is Mostly Just Old Age (August 2021)
- The Federal Windfall That Cities Can’t Afford to Waste (July 2021)
- The Tricky Task of Changing a Local Culture (June 2021)
- Are Red States in Denial About Improving Economic Prospects? (April 2021)
- Government Has a Trust Problem. It Will Take Time to Restore (February 2021)
- Cities and Suburbs: A Moment of Mutual Unease (December 2020)
- The Need to Reboot and Rebuild Public Transit (October 2020
- Technology’s Mixed Record in Responding to a Pandemic (August 2020)
- The Cloud over the Future of America’s Downtowns (June 2020)
- The Pandemic and the Strengths of Our Networked Governance (April 2020)
- How Cities Lost Control of the Urban Tech Revolution (February 2020)
- What Employers Want From Cities (July 2018)
- 5 Lessons from the Amazon HQ2 Frenzy (May 2018)
- A Tip for Infrastructure Builders: Fix It First (March 2018)
- It’s Time to Confront Our Coastal Elite Economy (January 2018)
- Struggling Suburb? Merge It With the Big City Next Door (November 2017)
- Are We Still Bowling Alone? (September 2017)
- The Importance of Cities Finding Their Cultural Match (July 2017)
- The Downside of Pragmatism (May 2017)
- Can a Small College Save Its Small Town (March 2017)
- Globalization’s Winner Take All Economy (January 2017)
- Looking Back From the Future (November 2016)
- What Cities Need in the Global Economy (September 2016)
- The Rage of Those Left Behind (July 2016)
- Deindustrialization and the Displaced Worker (May 2016)
- Should Economic Development Focus on People or Places? (March 2016)
- Why Moving Isn’t All Bad (January 2016)
- What Is the Real American Dream? (November 2015)
- The New Unemployables (September 2015)
- Big Aspirations Aren’t Just for Big Cities Anymore (July 2015)
- The Other Digital Divide (May 2015)
- Where’s America’s Entrepreneurial Economy? (March 2015)
- The Myths of Municipal Mergers (January 2015)
- Lessons From Kokomo on How to Spend Responsibly (November 2014)
- If Cities Want to Succeed, They Need to Focus on What Makes Them Distinct (September 2014)
- Do Cities Really Want Economic Development? (July 2014)
- The Benefits of Being a ‘Necessary City’ (May 2014)
- How to Harvest Good Ideas (January 2014)
- How to Stop Cities’ Cycle of Decline and Not Become the Next Detroit (November 2013)
- Beyond the ‘Brain Drain’: How Cities Really Need to Sell Themselves (August 2013)
- The Illusion of Growth Economics: Can Cities Like Charlotte Reinvent Themselves? (July 2013)