RegionWatch Index

December 2004
ARS LETTER TO YOU

Dear ARS Network,

2004 has been a great year for ARS. Our network has doubled over the past year; we currently have stewards representing over 200 regions. We have been fortunate enough to meet many of you through our Forums, Gardner Academies, and other events around the country.

We held two exciting forums this year; May saw us in Austin, Texas, where the theme was Propelling the Regional Agenda: The Role of CEOs; we met in Salt Lake City in November to discuss Selling the Vision, Creating the Reality.


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THE REGIONAL FILES


Sierra Business Council

Sierra Business Council Wins Governor's Award For Ten Years of Leadership
A regional association of over 600 business and civic members, the Sierra Business Council (SBC) works to secure the social, natural and financial health of the Sierra Nevada in California. Founded in 1994, SBC believes that environmental health is a cornerstone of economic prosperity; it rejects the notion that communities must choose between economic and environmental health. SBC was honored this month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its successful work promoting environmentally sensitive development and comprehensive land use planning. SBC was recognized for its deep commitment to balancing environmental preservation and protection with the need to keep California's economy growing.

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GETTING TO KNOW ARS


ARS Says Farewell to Chair

Each month in 2005, ARS will be introducing its Board members and Associates. This month, we say farewell to outgoing Chair Christine Chadwick, who has served as ARS Chair for two years, and is Executive Director of FOCUS St. Louis. We also introduce Frank Beal, Executive Director of Chicago Metropolis 2020.


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ARS ACTIVITIES


RegionLink: Bringing Practitioners Together
ARS is pleased to announce that in January, 2005, we will be officially unveiling RegionLink, our new moderated information exchange resource. A blend of a up to date news on innovation, database, a community of practice, a listserv, and the affinity group model, RegionLink will provide individuals and organizations with the opportunity to network and share relevant, meaningful information on issues of mutual interest.

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INNOVATIVE IDEAS

Regional Initiatives Stakeholders' Roundtable Discussion

REGIONAL PLANNING AND VISIONING EFFORTS
December 7, 2002
Remarks by Neal R. Peirce
My task this morning is to provide a quick overview of the state of the art of regional planning and visioning efforts today. Many of you are policy aces with knowledge far beyond mine in aspects of this question. But let me try a couple of themes or approaches.

First, regionalism is turning into a big deal -- in the U.S., and around the world. Ask about why the spread of regional planning, and the answer's the same Curt Johnson and I advanced in our Citistates book 12 years ago: from economy to environment, education to workforce, any region is immensely interdependent. Fewer people believe national governments can or will pull regions' chestnuts out of the fire. Individuals use the region as if it were a single big town; municipal borders matter less and less. Global communications and trade permit direct region-to-region transactions that easily ignore nation-state lines. Regions need to think about challenges to their economy, not to mention responses to threats ranging from terrorist hits to abrupt world energy shortages to global warming. I think it's no accident the push for regional planning has grown exponentially since the 1980s: it's our rapidly changing global-political environment.

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Contact Information
Alliance for Regional Stewardship
   Philadelphia, PA   19104
Phone:    Fax:
E-mail:

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RegionWatch Index