Cities are complex mixtures of people, places and processes. From politics and public art to schools and sewer lines, cities are their own ecology – delicate civic elements trying to achieve some kind of harmony so that they can grow together into a thriving city.

It’s messy at times, but it is the reality of city-building. Great cities feed the minds, souls and bodies of their residents and the people who visit them. It’s why they are deemed to be great.

We believe a united arts organization can be as important as a United Way. How a city esteems its visitors says a lot about how much it regards its residents. Whether a city cares about educating its children makes a serious statement about whether it wants to attract jobs. And the regard with which a city treats its past will tell you an awful lot about how it will fare in the future.

So when you come to this website, you’re just as likely to read a blog entry from Christian Rushing on LEED buildings as you are an entry from Ann Coulter about an urban university’s responsibility to its surrounding neighborhoods. You’re likely to find a reflection from Stroud Watson on the fruitlessness of planning for the future if you don’t understand and respect your history. Or you might find the musings of some friend whom we’ve coerced into writing about place-making or riverfront revitalization. Occasionally, we'll throw in a link.

We hope you’ll find a cornucopia of information about how cities work, how they strive to improve, and how the best make themselves even better. Hopefully, our readers will find some idea or notion that motivates them to do great things in their own cities.