PCRD

Regional Development & Community Celebrations: Much More than a Parade

In the community where I live, the Fourth of July is a big deal. The biggest deal, really, in terms of our community celebrations. For a full week leading up to the big day, we have all sorts of events and activities - all culminating in a parade on the afternoon of the Fourth.

Those of us who take part in these sorts of community events - festivals, parades, etc. - probably have a strong sense that these occasions are not just neutral events, but rather have an impact on our community. I recently ran across an academic paper that presents some research that confirms and documents that notion. Gianna Moscardo with the James Cook University Department of Tourism in Queensland, Australia wrote a report entitled, Analyzing the Role of Festivals and Events in Regional Development. It was published in Event Management (vol 11, pp 23-32).

The economic impact of festivals has been pretty well documented. Moscardo takes a different perspective, compiling several additional findings from 36 case studies. Here is what she learned about potential positive and negative impacts:

Economic Impact

• Positive: income, multiplier effect from visitor spending, employment
• Negative: increased prices for locals, opportunity costs

Tourism

• Positive: enhanced image as a "destination," extension of the tourism season
• Negative: risk of reputation damage

Physical

• Positive: new facilities and infrastructure, regeneration of rundown areas
• Negative: environmental damage, overcrowding, congestion

Sociocultural

• Positive: social opportunities for locals, improved social networks
• Negative: commodization of culture, antisocial behavior, dissatisfaction with event image

Psychological

• Positive: enhanced sense of community, excitement and pride
• Negative: conflict

Regional Development

• Positive: enhanced skills for volunteers and participants, support for other regional products and services, development of partnerships and alliances
• Negative: conflict with other regional activities

Caught in the Middle: America's Heatland in the Age of Globalization

Have you heard about Chicago Tribune columnist Richard C. Longworth's latest book, Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalization? Here's what the Chicago Council on Global Affairs has to say - In Caught in the Middle, Longworth chronicles the many ways in which globalization is transforming the Midwest – not only its economy but its educational system, its cities and small towns, its farms and factories, its politics and its very future.

The Midwest is the great swath, from Ohio through Iowa, which has relied on farming and heavy manufacturing to survive. Globalization has turned both upside down.

Some cities like Chicago thrive as global cities. Others, like Cleveland and Detroit, crumble. Workers in old factory towns like Dayton, Muncie, Galesburg and Newton see their factories go and wonder what they will do next. The family farmers who supported the Midwest’s galaxy of farm towns have gone away. Midwestern states struggle so hard to support the workers and communities left behind by globalization that they have no time, money or political will to deal with a globalized future.

There are bright spots – not only cities like Chicago or Minneapolis but small towns, like Warsaw, Indiana, which leads the world in high-level manufacturing of artificial hips and other orthopedic devices. Peoria is recovering and so is Des Moines. Cities and states are working to make bioscience and nanoscience the industries of the future. The best news is the arrival of immigrants – both PhDs from India and unskilled laborers from Mexico. Towns and cities that are magnets for immigrants thrive: those that aren’t shrivel.

Caught in the Middle is, as Longworth writes, “a report from the front line of America’s new economy.” One of the first books to deal with the Midwest as a region, it investigates why the world-is-flat dream remains out of reach for much of America’s heartland.

Longworth argues that the individual Midwestern states, locked within borders drawn more than 200 years ago, are too small, parochial and incompetent to compete in a globalized world. Each Midwestern state faces the same problems, but each is dealing with them on its own – and failing. Midwestern thinking is dominated by state schools and Midwestern politics is dominated by state governments. Instead, the Midwest needs a regional approach – new alliances across states lines between cities, businesses, workers and universities to set a regional agenda and reach regional solutions to the economic and political challenges of this new era.

This is a Midwestern problem – but a national one, too. As Longworth writes, “the Midwest has always been the bellwether for American social issues, economic trends and political movements. What happens to America, happens first in the Midwest.”

A Tax Echo for 2009

Here is a new podcast from Purdue University Economist Larry DeBoer. The topic is A Tax Echo in 2009. It is available in both mp3 and wmv formats.

Innovation: Seeing Old Assets in New Ways

Prosperity demands rapid adaptation or, if you prefer, resilience. Building a stronger regional economy comes from seeing with new eyes. How can our existing assets connect to new opportunities?

Here's an article out of Akron about the adaptation of manufacturing firms to new opportunities in health care markets. The trend revealed itself recently in a forum in Northeast Ohio. Read more.

As Doug Hall, former P&G exec and founder of Eureka Ranch notes, innovation opportunities can emerge anywhere. The process, however, requires discipline, and Doug has been introducing this discipline to smaller manufacturers nationwide though the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Doug has been in West Michigan, and we have introduced Eureka Winning Ways to companies in North Central Indiana.

Here's an example of an opportunity: Replacing vinyl shower curtains with less toxic materials. Folks in Massachusetts are looking at that one: "New shower curtain smell’ dangerous to health, environment".

The opportunities will multiply as our universities and businesses learn to collaborate. Read this opinion piece out of Seattle: Educating a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. 

Economic Development Administration

Posted by Terri Lester

The U. S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently released their Fiscal Year 2007 Annual Report which addresses the performance goals and measures for the various EDA program investments made during that time frame.  The document is available here.

INNOVATION - New Solutions for an Old Problem

It's said that it is the ability to innovate that gives regions and communities an edge in the global economy.  One way of innovating is to improve on or replace old ways of doing things.  In South Bend, IN, the city is test-driving new technologies for dealing with the old problem of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that can contaminate groundwater, rivers, streams and lakes when storm water overflows into the regular wastewater system.  It appears that EmNet, LLC has developed "a number of tools, equipment, and infrastructure to address all the aspects of real time monitoring and real time control of CSOs. From radio enabled manhole covers with embedded sensors to advanced hydraulic and hydrologic models to test its patented distributed control system in any scenario."  South Bend is testing this system, which could be used in many different countries.  To learn more click here.

Meeting the Challenge of Rural Broadband

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have released a report on rural broadband. Although the focus is on Pennsylvania, the researchers believe that their conclusions provide some insights into the challenges of bringing broadband to rural areas nationwide. The researchers emphasize that there is no single policy solution to increasing broadband penetration in rural areas. You can read more the report here and download a copy of the report here.

At the same time the National Governors Association has released a report on what states are doing to accelerate broadband deployment. You can read more about the report here. You can download a copy of the report here.

Infrastructure 2008: A Competitive Advantage

Posted by Indraneel Kumar

A new report by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst and Young caution about the deteriorating condition of infrastructure system in the U.S. and how it can erode our competitive advantages that we had so far. Today, there is a funding gap of about $ 170 billion to upgrade and bring up-to-date the existing infrastructure system. The study says that China is investing about 9 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on infrastructure, India is following suit, and Europe and Canada are revamping their existing infrastructure systems.

The authors also mention that new ways of planning for land use is required to balance the development and infrastructure. The old ways of unconnected transportation and land use planning might not be helpful in any way. The book presents various innovative methods, such as models of Public Private Partnerships, National Infrastructure Bank, etc. to finance the future infrastructure projects. Read an excerpt here and the whole study here.  

Your Economy

Posted by Susan Davis

Your Economy is a free resource that enables people to take a closer look at business activity in their local communities—and across the country. Just launched by the Edward Lowe Foundation, this appears to be a work in progress, but will certainly be a beneficial for community planners.

Green Jobs and the Inner City

Last week, in Milwaukee, I learned of a new initiative to develop skills in green building evaluation (including energy audits) among inner city residents. A new business that is forming will train inner city residents in conducting energy audits with new hand-held technologies.

Tying green building to inner city employment opportunities opens the door to "green collar jobs". Here's an example of what is happening in Philadelphia. If you would like to learn more, download this report.