CURP: Center for Urban and Regional Policy

May 9, 2008

	In the latest Column, Andrew Sum and Don Gillis write that the level of national joblessness for teens is greater than at any time over the past 60 years, and this summer will produce a new record unemployment rate unless we take action now. Column Archives


	The latest urban policy and planning events in Greater Boston and beyond.


	CURP Research Associate Chase Billingham reviews Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh's ethnography of the underground economy in the American inner city, Off the Books.


	A Los Angeles Times article details how a ubiquitous American brand was forbidden from the Forbidden City, and a Newsweek columnist longs for the comma – literally and metaphorically.


	CURP, founded at Northeastern University in 1999, is a "think and do tank" where faculty, staff, and students pool their expertise, resources, and commitment to address a wide range of issues facing cities, towns, and suburbs with an emphasis on the Greater Boston region.


	Looking to make a career change? Find out what the latest job opportunities in urban policy and planning are in the Boston area and beyond. Click here to start your search.

In 2001, a diverse group of residents and business owners in the Fort Point Channel area of Boston filed a petition with the Boston Landmarks Commission to make this corner of Boston into an historic district. Their chief goal in this endeavor was to maintain a sense of "place" in the neighborhood. These local pioneers, a number of whom are professional artists, hoped that many of the dangers facing this unique district-in-the-making, from the construction of towering office buildings to the replacement of affordable housing for families with luxurious condos, could be offset or at least kept in check by establishing strict guidelines for development and by requiring all construction proposals to be put through a rigorous review process.

Spotlight Archives

Barry Bluestone, Dean of the School of Social Science, Urban Affairs and Public Policy and Director of CURP, sees the new School becoming Northeastern’s strongest bridge to the community at large. In staying true to this mission, he is offering up a free education to anyone who wants it. The 21st Century City: Urban Opportunities and Challenges in a Global Context, the first class offered solely under the auspices of the new School, is open to graduate students seeking college credit and any community member who wishes to audit or simply sit in for one or two seminars that seem particularly interesting to them.

This Week Archives

While New York City's density alone makes it an environmentally-efficient place to live, the city has also made impressive steps recently towards improving its greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, waste management, and brownfield rehabilitation. But as the city continues to get bigger and older, it has decided not to allow those achievements to breed complacency, and in late April 2007 Mayor Bloomberg announced the release of PlaNYC 2030, a bold, sweeping new agenda for the future of the city's environment, growth, and infrastructure.

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"Regionalism in the 21st Century – Revisiting the Paradigm in New and Refreshing Ways," is a forum on regionalism, part of the Municipal Leadership Academy. The event is intended to promote thoughtful and detailed discussion on regional collaboration among municipal jurisdictions, their existing regional partners, and other interested parties, and will be held on Friday, May 16, 2008 at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. Topics will include the current state of regionalism in Massachusetts and beyond, the political history of existing regional services, "the new micro-regionalism," public/private-sector problem-solving on regional issues, and regional innovations.

The Municipal Leadership Academy is a joint endeavor of the MMA and Northeastern University's School of Social Science, Urban Affairs, and Public Policy. (CURP is a central part of the School.) The academy's mission is to foster leadership, scholarship and advanced training and education for local government leaders throughout Massachusetts. For more information, visit the MMA website .