By Emanuele Berry, WKAR
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-969238.mp3
EAST LANSING, MI –
Michigan State University is hosting a series of webinars this month to study how cities can remain sustainable in tough budget times.
Population loss and declining revenues in Michigan are forcing local communities to consider resizing for the future. That includes planning for smaller public infrastructure and tax bases. The webinars will give urban planning experts a forum to talk about such issues as relocating residents and strategic investment.
Rex LaMore directs MSU's Center for Community and Economic Development. He says people need to find new models for building healthy, viable communities.
"In the United States, we've relied overwhelmingly on a paradigm of growth that development and more are the better scenario," he says. "This very much a challenge for us to move away from this paradigm both in terms of the tools that we have to guide us but also in terms of how we approach it as individuals that more is perhaps not better, that maybe enough is enough."
LaMore says planners will meet in East Lansing next month to try to develop long- and short-term strategies for ensuring urban resizing is just and equitable.