CityLab Theme Brief
August 27, 2017 Livable Cities
Sustainable cities is a new concept for me. Growing up in Southern Maryland, I never had the experience of living in a city with a vast amount of people across different ethnicities, religions, and economic distribution. Building an urban environment that supports these differences while promoting wealth and prosperity through business solutions and opportunities and not solely reliant on charity and tax seems like an almost impossible challenge. Rethinking the way cities are designed, built, and managed will prove to be required for future growth just as we saw in the past. To quote the great Lou Holtz “In this world you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.” It’s true for individuals, businesses, and communities alike.
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September 3, 2017 Innovation & Impact
What does it take to revitalize urban neighborhoods? How will you work with your team to adapt innovative strategies from other cities and apply them to your lab neighborhood? What tools and metrics will you use to define challenges and evaluate solutions?
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What does it take -- it takes money and a plan. Government subsidies will only get urban neighborhoods so far. They need to a plan for sustainability through business solutions as well as changes that will allow for mixed income communities. Once wealth leaves a community it’s very difficult to get it back without fast paced gentrification. Fast paced meaning the people living in the community don’t have enough time (or even opportunity) to elevate themselves within that neighborhood.
There is an opportunity in Jonestown to bring back manufacturing that’s driven back technology. Through the use a data, we can identify potential locations that can be used to build new facilities for office space and manufacturing space. The jobs created will give locals the opportunity for advancement. The growth within the community will attract new businesses to either share the space or cater to the neighborhood.
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September 10, 2017 Healthy Habitat
How does the built environment of cities disrupt or harmonize with the natural environment and ecosystems? How do people in urban neighborhoods experience and think about the health of their local habitat? What tools and metrics will you use to define urban habitat challenges and evaluate solutions?
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September 17, 2017 Healthy People
What makes neighborhoods healthy? How do people in urban neighborhoods experience and think about their own health? What tools and metrics will you use to define health challenges and evaluate solutions?
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September 24, 2017 Cohesive Communities
How do people in neighborhoods pull together to support one another and solve problems? How do people in urban neighborhoods experience and think the value of their social connections? What tools and metrics will you use to define social cohesion challenges and evaluate solutions?
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October 1, 2017 Engaged Citizens
How do citizens of a neighborhood hold their government accountable? How do people in urban neighborhoods think about citizenship and exercise their rights as citizens? How responsive are local government officials to citizens? What tools and metrics will you use to define urban citizenship challenges and evaluate solutions?
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October 8, 2017 Shared Prosperity
How do inclusive wealth creation strategies create shared prosperity? How do people in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods experience and think about their capabilities for creating wealth? What tools and metrics will you use to define challenges to creating shared prosperity and evaluate solutions?
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