Friday, July 13, 2007

Moving Forward with the Manifesto, Part III

[Moving Forward, Part I, appears here.]
[Moving Forward, Part II, appears here.]

The Manifesto for a New Pittsburgh argues that in the 21st century, "connectivity is key and king." "Connectivity" means and includes lots of things, but one of them is reaching out for dialogues with other cities that share Pittsburgh's challenges -- and opportunities. Call one piece of this outreach the "Shrinking Cities" blogosphere. Or, more optimistically, a "Resilient Cities" blogosphere. For a start, consider:

Nearby -- I will shout youngstown
Farther away -- Mancubist: Life is good in Manchester. Mancubist seems to be somewhere between a cousin of Pittsblog and its doppelganger; it includes this this very timely and interesting post about a conference on the future of Manchester.

Use the comments to suggest links to other urban reinvention blogs.

Connecting a reinvented-steel-cities-diaspora-blogosphere is, of course, only the tip of a much bigger iceberg. If it chooses to, Pittsburgh can lead the creation of economic development networks and cultural development networks that focus on the histories and futures of similar communities. Put new energy into economic partnerships with industrial cities of England and Scotland. Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass! is a brilliantly conceived multi-dimensional citywide cultural event. Let's do something similar -- "Pittsburgh celebrates the future of steel" -- that puts regional and especially international connections front and center.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should contact Creative Concern and ask for a copy of their literature about the project - it could be useful in some way.

ken thompson said...

people might find the glasgow centre for population health of interest. its entirely focused on how to redevelop glasgow in a socially inclusive, sustainable way.
podcasts are excellent
http://www.gcph.co.uk/index.htm