CITISTATES REPORT ON THE CHARLOTTE AND ITS REGION — The Citistates team has been commissioned to return to Charlotte, N.C., undertaking one of its full regional analyses, focused on the 21st century challenges of rapid population growth and broad futures for the booming Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, including its broad ring of surrounding counties in both North and South Carolina. This will be first return and full reprise, in 25 Citistates projects, of a full earlier report. The original — then called a Peirce Report — was prepared for publication by the Charlotte Observer and other interested newspapers of the region in 1995. As before, the new project is being coordinated by the Urban Institute of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and will appear in the Observer and other regional papers (tentative publication September 2008). The interview-writing team consists of Citistates Associates Neal Peirce, Curtis Johnson and Alex Marshall. Farley Peters is providing project coordination.
CENTURY OF THE CITY — At the request of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Citistates team covered an historic Global Urban Summit, covering acute issues of world metropolises in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, in Bellagio, Italy, during July 2007. Neal Peirce and Curt Johnson, with assistance from Associate Lenneal Henderson and Farley Peters, audited the sessions, involving urban experts from across the world. Their report has blossomed into a book Century of the City, scheduled for October 2008 publication, with broad distribution to global policymakers and media.
CITISTATES COLLABORATIVE — The Economics of Place — How do cities and regions plan their land use and transportation choices for maximum economic advantage? In a new activity, a Citistates team of specialized consultants and writers round up the relevant case studies, analyses proposed ordinances, and suggests possible merged transportation/land use strategies. Past studies tend to show that building more compact urban forms with expanded access to both transit and good roads pays off in higher personal income growth and increased public revenues. Citistates Associates actively involved with the Collaborative include Curtis Johnson, Scott Polikov, John Hockenyos and Farley Peters.