ESI Blog: Present Value
Present Value was created as a platform for sharing ideas, discussing our interests and improving connections with our community. Each week, we invite guest contributors from the ranks of our senior advisors, industry experts, and thought leaders.
The racial wealth gap persists in our representative eleven counties and three states. This disparity is a product of discrimination and deliberate marginalization. Slavery, segregated housing, redlining, unequal investment in communities of color, and mass incarceration all played–and continue to play–a role in making it more difficult for black and brown families to access and […]
The COVID pandemic and the social justice movement, two major disruptors of 2020, were intertwined. The inequities that existed before 2020 were lifted to the forefront as health disparities and the impact of sub-standard support in schools with the greatest need were underscored. If we are to competitively emerge in the dynamic global economy, education […]
An equitable growth strategy, particularly in high density, multi-ethnic communities, requires three commitments: Terraform while doing no harm; adopt culturally responsive economic strategies, and advance STEM based competitiveness. A commitment to “terraforming” Star Trek’s Wrath of Khan introduced Project Genesis, a biotechnology solution for transforming desolate planets into vibrant, verdant places to sustain life. The only caveat […]
Throughout the pandemic, cities have lived on the razor’s edge. As we enter a new phase of living with COVID, the moment is ripe for opportunity to thrive, but also to deteriorate. Recently, we asked some of our senior advisors to draw from their experiences and offer their perspective on what it will take for […]
We are two years and counting into a pandemic that has upended the entire world, from public health systems and global supply chains, to the ways we conduct business and attend school. When we first wrote Our Love Letter to Cities just days into the pandemic, we were holding our breath imagining whether the future […]
For us to design cities of the future, it is important for us not to forget the institutions that helped us get to where we are today. Public libraries have played a pivotal role in communities and will need to be at the forefront when thinking about and planning for smart city initiatives. Public libraries […]
Becoming Trader Joe, by the firm’s founder Joe Coulombe, is one of the better books I have read in recent years. It clarified much of what I understand about their retail site and expansion decisions. For me, this included Coulombe’s initial objective of providing products for the over-educated and underpaid, products these customers could feel […]
In 2022, I will be celebrating my 25th year as a sustainability leader, speaker, advocate, educator, author, and designer. Despite all the success and satisfaction of a career well spent, I have yet to see the larger transition to a sustainable future that I assumed would occur. How is it possible that we can be […]
Over the past five years, Econsult Solutions, through its former joint venture, completed cutting edge research on smart cities around the world, exploring how leading global cities begin their smart city journey, what they were investing in, and what those investments meant in terms of return on investment. We have learned that the use of […]
Technological disruption, public health scares, and pushback against systemic disparities have all elevated the importance of and demand for quality places in urban settings. At a time when technology and infrastructure have enabled people and businesses to locate anywhere and collaborate virtually, city and regional leaders increasingly need to evaluate, refine, and in some cases […]