Officials in recession-battered Michigan increasingly see placemaking as an important economic recovery strategy. The Michigan Municipal League, a coalition of local governments, is leading efforts to make the state's cities talent magnets.
Streetsblog profiles the efforts of The Michigan Municipal League to support placemaking efforts:
"The League is taking its "Eight Assets for 21st Century Communities" to struggling places around the state. These eight assets include a wide variety of interventions -- entrepreneurship and multiculturalism, for example -- but sustainable transportation is an important part of the strategy. The League lists its number one asset as walkability, and its number seven is transit.
In tiny former French industrial town Sault Ste Marie on the Upper Peninsula, the League is helping build economic synergy between the town and the local state university. In suburban Detroit's Lathrup Village, it is helping repair the damage done by a nine-lane road that bisects the community."
Thanks to Angie Schmitt
FULL STORY: Michigan Cities See Placemaking as the Key to a Brighter Future
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
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