What Are You Working On

I met up with a colleague this week for coffee and the first question
we asked each other was, "What are you working on?" I love that
question, because it's cool to hear what people are doing, and the
exchanges that ensue make for some of the most stimulating
conversation I know - sharing info, finding out the back story,
learning a thing or two.

So let me start that conversation in this space by giving you a
sampling of what I'm working on. Please excuse any vagueness, as many
of my work projects have varying levels of sensitivity to them.

* Calculating the difference between what the region will bring in for
transportation and what it will need to spend, and figuring out the
financial and legislative mechanisms that will need to be put into
motion to make up that difference

* Determining where, when, and why neighborhoods improve or decline
over time, and trying to isolate some key drivers to that change so
that future change can be predicted and beneficially remedied

* Producing a strategic framework by which potential interventions for
commercial corridors can be tested to determine their effect on
individual corridors and on the system of corridors in a city

* Quantifying the tax revenues that will be generated by one
recommended density and use for a particular downtown site versus
other, alternative uses

* Recommending a revitalization strategy for an older urban area that
has a transit-accessible downtown and a usable waterfront but that has
image issues

So what are you working on?