From the Wyoming Business Council: CHEYENNE, WYO. – Starting Monday, the Wyoming Rural Development Council will host the first of four Strong Town presentations throughout the state. The WRDC, in partnership with the nonprofit organization Strong Towns, invites community leaders, business owners and residents to these presentations to learn more about keeping your community strong […]
The Local Economy Revolution: Economic Ecosystems & the Value of Being Unique
“The Real Question isn’t whether Policy X or Trend Y will happen. Stuff will happen. The real question is, how do we set our communities up to thrive in a world of Macro Uncertainty.” -D.G. Rucker I’m a sucker for those big picture, MegaTrends-that-are-going-to-Rock-Your-World, blog-magazine-TEDx thingys that float all over the interwebs these days. I […]
Where the Well Things Are
Everything we thought we knew about energy development just a few short years ago seems to have been turned on its head. Some of this change has been caused by new technology, some by old politics; a lot by larger forces in the world around us: Over the next three decades, world energy consumption is […]
Bakken Boom May Need Timeout
Earlier this year, the USGS estimated “mean undiscovered volumes of 7.4 billion barrels of oil, 6.7 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 0.53 billion barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations in the Williston Basin Province of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.” Interesting news out of North Dakota’s […]
Broadband Service, Training, Digital Inclusion, Innovation and Marketing Key to Rural Success
Intelligent Community Forum partners with Blandin Foundation to close the digital divide for rural Minnesota communities $6.6 million project monitored 11 communities over two years and tracked increases as high as 60% in the use of broadband to boost their economies (New York City, New York, 12 June 2013) — Connecting rural Minnesotans with the Internet boosts […]
Broadband Planning And Big Data
The Internet most people use is an antique. I hadn’t thought of it that way until I was invited to participate in a bonus session on Broadband Planning & Big Data, during the #APA13 National Planning Conference in Chicago last month. The International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University focuses on developing […]
Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities: Planning for Broadband #apa13
Broadband is essential infrastructure for the 21st century. Just as paved roads, electricity and drinking water supported development in the last century, broadband communications is required for development today. Yet as author William Gibson said, “the future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” Hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors […]
Plan, Innovate, Get Local—Do More, Do It Better #apa13
Communities that want to compete in the Next Economy need to get a plan—not a fixed blueprint but a roadmap with clear priorities. Support innovation with vibrant, mixed-use focal places and critical infrastructure. Strengthen demand for local goods and services, and support your local workforce. About 5,000 planners gathered in Chicago last week for the […]
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Back to the Buffalo Commons
After years of outmigration, people are moving back to the Great Plains, the vast dry expanse of prairie once discounted as the Great American Desert. Today our desert is giving Middle East deserts a run for their oil money with fast-moving shale plays opening up new opportunities in the heart of North America. The US […]
Accessible, High-Amenity Rural Areas Attracting New Population
Reblogged from USDA ERS: Population trends in U.S. nonmetro counties vary by age group and natural amenity/accessibility levels For many decades, most U.S. nonmetro counties experienced significant population loss among young adults, especially in the years immediately following high school graduation. Some of that population loss was offset by net gains among individuals in their […]
