Featured Stories

Minneapolis Convention Center plaza, courtesy Kristin Maywire, Urbain DRC

The Creative City Challenge: Public Art with Lasting Influence?

Brian Martucci Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Finalists have been selected for the second annual Creative City Challenge. The winning, interdisciplinary, public-art installation--selected by popular vote this winter--will be open all summer on the Minneapolis Convention Center plaza.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Design, Regionalism

Downtown

Bogobrush: A Bamboo Objet d'Art for Social Good

Anna Pratt Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Heather and John McDougall, who are siblings, have designed the bamboo Bogobrush, a "buy one, give one" product that provides toothbrushes to people in need.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Entrepreneurship, Green Jobs, Healthcare, Philanthropy, Regionalism, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Downtown/Lowertown

Throughout the U.S., Public Art Engages Communities and Transforms Neighborhoods

Elaine Labalme Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Public art has evolved into an essential element of urban placemaking and social engagement. From murals on vacant buidlings to art in laundormats to temporary art installations that invite public participation, we take a look at public art and how it's changing cities.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation

Downtown/Lowertown, Thomas - Dale/Frogtown

Anthony Ongaro aboard a familiar green bicycle

Nice Ride's Next Roll: A Conversation with Anthony Ongaro

Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 11, 2013

With new ventures in greater Minnesota, plans for "inspansion" in the Twin Cities, and a bicycle that makes ice cream, the bikeshare program is both growing fast and becoming a (sometimes quirky) part of Minnesota culture. Nice Ride's marketing director fills us in.

Creative Leadership, Regionalism, Sustainability, Transportation

Twin Cities Parks 3.0: Bold New Initiatives Coming to Our Green Spaces

Susan Klemond Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Get ready for some changes in our already-stellar park system that will expand your ideas about recreation, ecology, and economic development.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Design, Regionalism, Sustainability

Riverfront/Mill District, Downtown, Southwest, North Side, West Seventh, Calhoun - Isles, Northeast

A Line or Two: BRT and Me

Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 26, 2013

With Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) a possible future option for areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul where light rail isn't feasible, I decided to take ride on Apple Valley's newly opened BRT route (the Red Line) to check it out. And why not? I'd already checked into a suburban hotel after the power went out at home.

Design, Regionalism, Transit Oriented Development

A Line or Two: Urbanist Katherine Loflin Coming to town to talk placemaking and "talent magnetism"

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 24, 2013

She was the key consultant on the Knight Foundation/Gallup Soul of the Community project, which looked at why people love where they live and how that attachment can drive economic development. The in-demand placemaker is the star attraction at a weeklong series of discussions next week, cosponsored by The Line.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy

Change comes to car country: Biking, walking on the rise in the suburbs

Jay Walljasper Wednesday, February 27, 2013

From "road diets" to "advisory bike lanes" to Complete Streets programs, Twin Cities suburbs are beginning to create infrastructure and policy to turn their familiar auto-only paradigm into a new vision of walkable, bikeable streets.

Creative Leadership, Regionalism, Sustainability, Transportation

Artist rendering of the Capitol East Station

Central Corridor Success: The Green Line is Already Earning Greenbacks

Conrad DeFiebre Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Central Corridor light rail line (aka the Green Line) won't be finished till 2014, but it's already earning its keep, writes Conrad LeFiebre of MN 2020, as development advances, once-disrupted business stabilizes, and observers add up the unique advantages of a line that connects two downtowns.

Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation

The New Green Job Scene

Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, November 07, 2012

While the concept of the green job is a nice fusion of much-needed employment growth and environmental responsibility, it's been hard to get a handle on the size and even the definition of this part of the job market. But according to Matt Entenza and other experts, the picture in Minnesota is getting clearer as more jobs fit the category. In fact, this small but growing sector may be the IT of the future.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, Green Jobs, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Joel Coen directs Richard Kind in A Serious Man

Wanted: More Minnesota-Made Movies

Michelle Bruch Wednesday, July 25, 2012

How are Minnesota and the Twin Cities doing as film production centers and locations? There have been some major disappointments recently, but new moves give us reason to hope we can lure Hollywood back.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy

The Broadband Challenge

Julie Kendrick Wednesday, July 18, 2012

What can the Twin Cities learn from other communities' success with municipal broadband? For one thing, that "bright cable" has a bright future. For another, that every city's situation is different.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Emerging Technology, High Technology, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy

Grassroots and Groundwork: Escaping poverty by blending tech and tradition

Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 13, 2012

At the Grassroots and Groundwork anti-poverty conference--held at Mystic Lake Casino, of all places--attendees heard about ingenious ways to build wealth in struggling communities by adapting old-school immigrant self-help tactics to the digital age.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, diversity, Philanthropy, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy

Dayton's Bluff and Swede Hollow in the 19th Century

A Line or Two: Hikes and History

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 11, 2012

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities--call it an editor's-note-as-blog-entry. This week: A web site that makes hiking through our towns an exercise in historical imagination.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Regionalism

Dayton's Bluff, Downtown, West Seventh

Karen Washington tells local urban gardeners: to go permanent, get political

Susan Klemond Wednesday, April 04, 2012

What do you do when the urban garden you've struggled to create gets sold out from under you? At the recent Community Garden Spring Resource Fair, New York gardening advocate Karen Washington told local growers that if they want their gardens to be really sustainable--i.e., permanent--they'd better get savvy about the political system.

Coordination/Collaboration, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Green Jobs, Regionalism, Sustainability

West Side

regionalism : Featured Stories