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Citistates Reports
Neal Peirce and
Curtis Johnson are inventors of a new form of American
journalism. They provide challenging “outsider”
views – designed to inform and energize local
civic forces – on the future prospects of urban
regions across the United States.
These Citistates reports are
generally commissioned by a major local newspaper.
The Citistates team interviews a broad range of
metropolitan leaders and citizens groups. Then,
in a series of in-depth articles, the team draws
on what has been learned from community leaders
and citizens, as well as its knowledge of regions
nationwide. An independent assessment of the region's
major problems and opportunities is written and
then appears in the newspaper, either as a day-to-day
series or as a special pull-out section.
“Citistates Reports,” or “Peirce
Reports” as they were formerly called, have won wide acceptance
in the American journalism. Since the first report was published
by the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette in 1987,
there have been 20 more – including series for the Seattle
Times, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Owensboro (Kentucky) Messenger-Inquirer,
Dallas Morning News, St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Raleigh
News & Observer, Spokane Spokesman Review,Philadelphia Inquirer,
Boulder Daily Camera, Charlotte Observer, Reading Eagle
and Times, Kansas City Star, Boston Globe, San Antonio Express-News, San Diego Magazine, Indianapolis Star and News the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The first six Peirce Reports were reprinted in the book, Citistates:
How Urban America Can Prosper in a Competitive World (Seven
Locks Press, 1993 – Copies available by mail order from publisher
– 800-354-5348, or through Amazon.com)
Why Citistates Reports?
Citistates Reports
are intended to stimulate – but never replace
– vigorous civic dialogue. For a discussion
of their role in communities, look
here.
Peirce Reports were the subject of
a special plenary session of the Urban Land Institute in St. Louis
on May 2, 1997, with representatives from six Peirce Report cities
on hand. For a full report on that session, look
here.
2005-2006 -- New England Futures:
Breaking pace from all its prior reports, the Citistates Groupundertook a project encompassing all six states of New England. With interviewing in early 2005 and publication laterin late 2005 and early 2006, the project was mounted in collaboration with a broad-based New England Partnership of civic and business groups. For a full description of the project and updates on its progress, click here.
2004 -- Boston Citistates Report:
A
major Citistates report -- BOSTON UNBOUND -- was released May 26. Click here for a full PDF of the report.
The Boston Globe November 29 began a four week Op-Ed series based on Boston Unbound. To see the series, click here.
The Citistates Report for 2000:
The Citistates Group’s South
Florida Citistates project, sponsored by the Knight and MacArthur
Foundations, was published in The Miami Herald, El Nuevo
Herald and The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)
over four Sundays in November and December 2000. It marked the first
time that two metropolitan dailies – and in this case fiercely
competitive ones – had agreed to run the same series. The first
Sunday’s articles revolved around South Florida's exciting
opportunities – in trade, and now Internet connections –
to be North America's gateway to the Caribbean and South America
in a century when the sleeping Latin giant awakens. The second Sunday
examined the incredible cultural and language mix of the region,
the perils of ongoing antagonisms, and the countervailing opportunities
for a citistate which learns to make an asset rather than a liability
of its diversity – especially in the 21st century global economy.
The third Sunday focused on South Florida's perplexing growth challenges.
And the fourth on how the three South Florida counties – Miami-Dade,
Broward and Palm Beach – can fashion a less gridlocked transportation
future – perhaps by reviving the region’s grand old dowager,
the much neglected U.S. 1, making it a focus. Included is an insightful
guest essay by our Citistates colleague, Manuel Pastor.
The series can be viewed at the sites
of the Citistates Groups’ partners in South Florida, the Collins
Center for Public Policy – www.collinscenter.org.
Citistates Reports in the late '90s:
The San Diego Millennium Project
– a look at the future of a binational
citistate – appeared in the October, November and December
1999 issues of San Diego Magazine and can be viewed at the
magazine's site – http://www.sandiegomag.com/millennium/.
The October article focused on how San Diego and Tijuana can and
must prosper in a single region, the November article on how a region
could make 21st century preparedness of its workforce a central
target, and the December piece on the immense growth challenges
of a citistate with delicate ecology and limited developable space
facing the likelihood of 1 million new residents in the next 20
years. A reprint of this series, available either in English or
Spanish, is due for early January 2000.
Nashville and Middle Tennessee
fell under the microscope of the Peirce Report research team in
an autumn 1999 series published by the Nashville Tennessean.
In Part I, the team explored Nashville and the neighboring
eight-county region's abundant
strengths and palpable weaknesses. In Part
2, the team asked – How will the Middle Tennessee region
face its mounting transportation gridlock? Will it follow the route
forged by traffic-clogged Atlanta, or find ways to grow with less
destructive sprawl? In Part
3, the focus was on strong potential in commuter rail for the
region, plus a start at light rail reinforcing the center city.
Charlotte's newly developing regionwide public transit system was
cited as a model. Finally, the team's prescription calls for (1)
a heavy dose of input from the community's varied stakeholders,
as well as (2) the suggested use of high-tech analytical tools to
help with visualizing
change.
For a report on how the region has responded to the Nashville report,
including creation of the new organization, Cumberland Tomorrow,
click here.
The Peirce Report on Lexington,
planned with the Bluegrass Tomorrow, focused on growth issues in
the area. For the introduction published in the Herald-Leader
Online, click
here. The Bluegrass region blazed the trail for preservation
and reinventing government a generation ago. So why isn't the region
setting the pace for “smart growth” – compact housing,
walkable neighborhoods, town centers, transit connections, the
Peirce team asks? Despite the best efforts of the Urban County
Council to preserve Bluegrass farms of Fayette County, a
broader consensus is needed – and fast. Also in an
accompanying article, the team suggests a regionwide organization
of goverment officials as well as innovative representatives of
the business and civic sectors for metropolitan planning. “Why
not consider forming a Bluegrass Regional Council?”
Links to previously published
Peirce Reports:
Erie
Peirce Report – August 1998
Northeast
Nebraska Peirce Report – July 1998
St. Louis Peirce Report -- 1997
Last updated February 19, 2007
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