New Development Strategy | ModeShift

Flip: Google and Congestion

by Keith SchneiderMarch 1, 2007March 2, 20070

This fourth installment of Flip, which tracks keen new convergences between urban affairs and new media technology, was suggested byÂ Joe Mielke, an IT professional and a colleague at the Michigan Land Use Institute. It’s Google’s recently introduced tool to trackÂ urban congestion in real time, and available now in New York. Click theÂ traffic link on the top right of the page. The applications for this tool are immeasurable. If you’re swinging upÂ the New Jersey Thruway …

Green Cities

by Keith SchneiderFebruary 24, 2007February 24, 20070

Â Â The American Prospect, one of the important forums of progressive thought, published a special section last month on “Emerald Cities.”Â “The environmental movement and the movement for a new urbanism come together in a quest for cities that are both affordable and sustainable,” write the editors. “With more sensible land use and transportation strategies, and better use of scarce subsidy dollars, America could provide more livable cities with lower energy costs, as well as …

Organizing Principles

by Keith SchneiderFebruary 21, 2007February 22, 20072

Seven years ago New Yorker magazine writer Malcolm Gladwell published The Tipping Point, which explored the mix of episodic and serendipitous stages that turn a good idea into a cultural event.Â Gladwell’s book is as useful for explaining the genetics of a modern sensation as Alvin Toffler’s The Third Wave was in the 1980s for understanding the economic and cultural consequences of rapid change. Both books are essential reading for grasping how global climate change has …

Charting A Future For Michigan Through Maine

by Keith SchneiderFebruary 12, 2007February 16, 20073

If you read the growing number of economic development proposals about how to solve what we in Michigan call the “one state recession,” it’s readily plain that they all say pretty much the same thing.Â Promote the idea that educational attainment is a priority, and make it possible for more students to attend and graduate from college. Improve Michigan’s cities so that they are magnets for talented entrepreneurial young people. Develop strategies that leverage Michigan’s treasure …