In the first news issue of the fall semester,  The Johns Hopkins University student newspaper has printed an excellent article about my 21st Century Cities Center.   The previous director was a prominent sociologist and she focused on urban poverty issues.  Over the next couple of years, I will shift the center's emphasis to the broader topic of urban economic growth.  Urban economic growth and human capital accumulation and learning go hand in hand.   Building on my past "Green Cities" work, we will devote ample effort to the broad topic of urban quality of life and the role that safe streets and clean air and water play in helping a city to attract skilled people and jobs.  At the same time,we will build on the Opportunity Insights project focused on the causal role of place in determining a child's upward mobility.  Over the last several weeks, I have been meeting with a variety of people from the City of Baltimore, and various departments at JHU to find partners who are willing to work with me on empirical topics related to the causes and consequences of urban economic growth.  Our Center's new research will be grounded in empirical work and spatial data. This creates ample opportunities for students to get involved.  One prominent economist's daughter already works for our center on an urban crime project.

The easy way to follow our activity is to visit our twitter page.