The CityFutures Panel on Community and Regional Development's mission is to foster and shape a broader and more visible public discourse about local government roles in the development and governance of regions, specifically related to sustainability, housing, land use, economic development,and transportation. To support this mission, the Panel identifies challenges and barriers to successful regional governance, explores effective local solutions, supports research, and provides guidance and recommendations to city officials.
The Community and Regional Development Panel is part of the CityFutures Program, which includes committees of city officials addressing topics related to Public Finance, Equity and Opportunity, and Democratic Governance. The Program was undertaken with the belief that significant economic, demographic, and other changes are transforming the contexts in which municipal governments function. Broadly, the CityFutures Program aims to:
- Help local officials recognize, understand, and meet the emerging trends and challenges their communities face;
- Foster and shape public discussion and policy debate aimed at developing the arrangements needed to meet these challenges; and
- Help shape NLC activities and programs to reflect the concerns, interests, and objectives of local officials.
The CityFutures Panel on Community and Regional Development meets twice annually--once at the Congressional City Conference held in Washington, D.C., each March, and once at the Congress of Cities & Exposition each fall. Meetings are open to any interested conference attendee.
Membership
If you are interested in joining the Community and Regional Development Panel, please email Lara Malakoff at malakoff@nlc.org for more information.
Get Involved!
Join the Online Community for the CityFutures Panel on Community and Regional Development within myNLC. Click on Community Home, then Groups.
This online community provides members of the Panel with the opportunity to engage with one another throughout the year, not only when the Panel meets in person. You can initiate discussions, share ideas, and post resources that you find relevant to the Panel's mission and work.
Regional Problem-Solving: A Fresh Look at What it Takes
Are you thinking that solving a particular problem will require coordinated action by several jurisdictions or even the whole region? This essay may help you assess the prospects for effective action: does your area have the governance capacity to come up with a way to address the issue you want to work at?
Recent Research on Regional Resilience
The Network on Building Resilient Regions (BRR) examines the power of metropolitan regions to respond to local and national challenges. BRR brings together a group of experts --- including some NLC staff --- to investigate why metro regions matter now, what constitutes resilience in the face of challenges, and what factors help to build and sustain strong metro regions. The Network is supported by grants from the MacArthur Foundation. The website organize the Network’s research and writing by topic areas: economic insecurity, economic resilience, infrastructure, governance and immigration.
City Examples of Regional Cooperation
These promising practices are initiatives that take a multi-jurisdictional approach to advocating for citizens’ interests, delivering services and maintaining an open dialog in a way that benefits the region as a whole.
Local Roles in Integrating Transportation and Land Use
Transportation planning tends to occur at a regional scale, while land use authorities are vested primarily with local jurisdictions. Given the intrinsic connection between transportation and land use, the best to route to improving quality of life is to ensure that regional and local perspectives are mutually supportive. This guide provides local officials with strategies and action steps to help foster the integration of transportation and land use.
Guide to Local Government Collaboration in America's Regions
Many public and private sector leaders would like to explore the pros and cons of various ways to govern and deliver services through intergovernmental or regional arrangements, but they do not have an easy guide to the options, or examples of communities that have tried them. This report, sponsored by the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, provides practical guidance to local governments wishing to work more closely with their regional neighbors.
From Meltingpot Cities to Boomtowns: Redefining How We Talk About America's Cities
This reports was a joint effort between the National League of Cities and the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech to develop a framework based on social, economic, and demographic characteristics that more appropriately distinguishes cities in a context that is useful for effective local decision-making. From Meltingpot Cities to Boomtowns: Redefining How We Talk About America's Cities offers a useful framework for addressing a variety of land use issues.
Land Use and Development Challenges in America's Cities
This report reflects on the content and the dialogue from the 2003 National Forum on Building Quality Communities. The report, the panel identifies a number of key issues that communities must weigh together in order to determine their unique vision and plans.
Building Quality Communities
This report represents an effort to paint a picture of how local land use decisions and the ways in which they are made have profound and lasting effects on the quality of communities. The report outlines how municipal officials can help ensure that local land use decisions are guided by purposeful thinking about where our communities have been and where they want to be.