CEO's for Cities meets in Indianapolis

I was sitting in a ULI meeting last week in DC hearing that Indianapolis is one of the top ten cities with prospects for job growth in the country. At the same time, there was a group on the ground in Indianapolis taking advantage of the city to study urban livability. Hmmm? Why did CEO's for Cities choose such a place? They call themselves a “civic lab of today's urban leaders catalyzing a movement to advance the next generation of great American cities.” That's a giant challenge, especially when you consider the current economy and you think about this Sprawl Crawl graphic on their website. In second place in the country, only behind Detroit, the Indianapolis-Carmel metro area spends a hefty amount of time commuting by car. However, those of us who live here know the city is doing some pretty amazing things recently that must have captured the group's attention, including the Cultural Trail, the new 100acres at the IMA, the East 10th Street streetscape enhancements, and the many improvements around the city in advance of the Super Bowl in 2012. We all know this work certainly isn't for one football game. According to a recent Indianapolis Business Journal article, the city anticipates growing from 25,000 downtown residents to 40,000 by 2020. More to the point of the meeting in Indy last week: the CEO's for Cities has launched an ambitious initiative to redefine the American Dream. Quoting from their website, “The US Initiative imagines opportunity, community, connectivity, livability and optimism as best achieved through good urbanism.” Considering the recent projects and reports out of Indianapolis, I can see why they made the trip. With everything going on, maybe Indy is breaking out of its perception as a mid-tier, midwestern market with a shyness about it. We'll see.