Universities and health care, "eds and meds", have been in a huge growth cycle over the last few decades. Many communities have been pinning their hopes on anchor institutions like a university or research hospital to retool their economies for the 21st century. Yet the higher education industry is facing a convergence of several trends and forces that are threaten their future. At a minimum, schools need to be figuring out how to navigate these choppy waters ahead. Here are six forces converging on colleges today and in the near … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2018
Northern Ambition: Young and Foreign in the Twin Cities Circa 1987
[ When I wrote about there being social factors other than the cold keeping people from moving to Minneapolis, Sami Karam, a Lebanese immigrant who now lives in New York City and posts insightful demographic analysis as his site Populyst, mentioned that he'd had similar experiences trying to fit in there when he lived in Minneapolis in the 1980s. I asked him if he'd write up his experience, and he graciously agreed. While this story is about 30 years old, I believe it still holds relevance today. You can also follow Sami on twitter at … [Read more...]
Double Decking Interstates Is Not the Answer for Nashville Traffic Woes
Fresh off the defeat of Nashville's transit referendum, a Republican gubernatorial candidate is proposing a major highway expansion that would complete the I-480 loop around the city to the north and double-deck I-65, I-40, and I-24 through downtown. Nashville's traffic is getting worse. But it's first worth asking whether it has too few freeways. I have a database from the Texas Transportation Institute that can help shed light on this. It's five or so years old, so updated data would need to be pulled, but as of 2011, Nashville did not … [Read more...]