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Letter From the Director – Wrap-Up of the First Semester

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My first semester as Director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech (MI) is drawing to a close. Similar to my 60 day update, I would like to share with you selected achievements and strategic activities of the institute. The institute is now home to a number of blossoming research efforts, including a policy informatics network, expanding work on citizen engagement, critical looks at development patterns in distressed cities, and the local and global patterns of community resiliency.

Roundup on Grants and Proposals
We continue to diversify our funded research portfolio. Joe Schilling led the Metropolitan Institute’s effort to partner with the German Marshall Fund and Cleveland State to manage, mentor, and evaluate a new executive fellowship program as part of the Obama Administration’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative which seeks to build capacity in six economically distressed cities—Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, Fresno, and Chester, PA. Joe and his colleagues at Cleveland State will assess the impacts from the fellowship while mentoring roughly 30 professionals over a 3-year period. Maggie Cowell and I received a seed grant from the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment to build a research program on designing resilient networks for local communities. Read more about the project here. We received an IBM Center for the Business of Government grant to study the role of citizen apps and its influence on governance. Read more about the project here. We are hoping to hear positive responses on several grant proposals we currently have under review.

New and Emerging Partnerships
An institute’s strategic alliances are one of its most valuable assets. Building winning partnerships takes time and effort, and the payoffs for both parties are not immediate. We have spent a great deal of time and effort to connect the Metropolitan Institute with our industry, non-profit, and government friends. We have formed a partnership with ACT for Alexandria, a community foundation dedicated to stimulating philanthropic giving on the local level within Alexandria, VA. The ACTion Alexandria project is a new citizen engagement platform with interactive tools to make it easier for residents to take an active role in addressing community problems. The institute will partner with Act for Alexandria and use the ACTion platform to design and test practices that encourage citizen participation using online tools. Read more on this project here. Tentative collaboration agreements are in place or being cultivated with a number of other organizations including the American Red Cross, the US Green Building Council, the International for City/County Managers Association (ICMA), and City and County of San Francisco, among others. Within Virginia Tech, we continue to work closely with our partners in the Northern Capital Region and Blacksburg on a number of collaborative efforts.

Please continue reading for updates on our work in Community Resiliency, Policy Informatics and exciting international outreach and our vision of the future.

Continue reading →

Faculty Fellow Showcase: Margaret Cowell

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Professor Margaret Cowell, assistant professor in the Urban Affairs and Planning program in the School of Public and International Affairs and Faculty Fellow to the Metropolitan Institute, shared some of her background and research highlights recently.

 Q: Please tell us a bit about your academic background.

I attended Brown University in Providence, RI, with the intention of becoming a medical doctor, however an undergraduate urban studies course sparked my curiosity and I quickly became obsessed with the subject and took every city-based course I could. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Cork, Ireland, a post-industrial city that felt much like the towns I’d grown up near in upstate New York, and a little like Buffalo or Cleveland. During my time abroad, Cork was seeing some growth with the ‘Celtic Tiger’ and my time there showed me another face of urban development in distressed areas.  I then pursued a Masters degree in planning at the University of Buffalo – another excellent location for studying urban development in shrinking cities. Several years working and conducting research at the Federal Reserve Bank cemented my love for research. Driven by a desire to develop my own research agenda, I went back to school to pursue a PhD at Cornell University, working with Rolf Pendall and Susan Christopherson on transitional economies and regional resilience.

Q: What are your main research projects at the present time?

Currently, I’m working on a book manuscript to help us better understand how larger cities of the Midwest responded to deindustrialization in the 1970s and 1980s. The research is built on interviews I conducted with development officials, civic leaders, public officials, and private sector representatives in Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh to get a sense on the decision-making process and the economic development planning response crafted in each of these places. Continue reading →

International Exchange with the French America Foundation

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When the French American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation identified the study themes for its two year reciprocal exchange program as neighborhood revitalization, the adaption of cities in transition, and the relationship of creative place making (e.g., sustainability, culture and art), Metropolitan Institute’s Associate Director Joe Schilling offered guidance on the program content and helped them coordinate their fall 2011 study visit to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Cleveland.

As part of the Metropolitan Institute’s efforts to expand its international outreach, the institute hosted the French American Foundation delegation in Alexandria, Va., including representatives from the French Ministry of Culture and Communications, a principal sponsor of the exchange. Metropolitan Institute Faculty Fellows Maggie Cowell, Ralph Buehler, and Derek Hyra, associate vice president for research in the National Capital Region, Don Leo, and researchers from Virginia Tech’s Advanced Research Institute joined the facilitated discussion as the group explored examples of how sustainability efforts on both sides of the Atlantic can facilitate the regeneration of distressed cities and neighborhoods.

In light of her scholarship on the economic resilience of distressed cities, from December 5th-9th professor and Faculty Fellow Maggie Cowell will part of the US delegation visiting two French regions: the cities of Paris (Ile de France region) and Lille (Nord-Pas-de-Calais region). Both cities are undertaking efforts to revitalize rundown neighborhoods via the PNRQAD program, a national policy initiative which seeks to promote affordable housing and prevent social exclusion. A visit of the French capital will provide a national perspective on urban planning policies and sustainability issues. Both Paris and Lille are invested in “creative place making” efforts. The “Grand Paris” is spearheading many cultural initiatives which connect directly to large-scale urban planning sustainability efforts. Lille was the European Capital for Culture in 2004 and has also incorporated artistic and cultural projects in its urban development plans. The Lille metropolitan area has an interesting economic and industrial history which has left many traces on its urban landscape with its old industrial sites and brownfields. Since 1996, a new policy for urban renewal (“renewed city”/”ville renouvelée”) seeks to rebuild the city on its old foundations by developing its old run-down neighborhoods and its 19th century industrial heritage.

For the Foundation the aim of this two year sustainable cities program and these study visits is to foster dialogue between leading US and French practitioners and experts on cultural and urban policy and provide a platform for transferable model practices. For the Metropolitan Institute these exchanges will help seed ideas and research opportunities into how cities respond to economic stresses and how policies influence their recovery. They will also build on the institute’s work on cities in transition as part of its grant from the Ford Foundation.

Metropolitan Institute in the Washington Post

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Joe Schilling

Joe Schilling, associate director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech and a founding member of the National Vacant Properties Campaign, shares his insights in the Washington Post on the mortgage field services industry leaders, Robert Klein and Safeguard Properties.

“You have to give Robert credit for being out there; that’s certainly a risky environment,” Schilling says. “At the same time, sometimes by overselling what they can do, by over-promoting, that causes some frustration from local government officials.”

Resilience of Citizen Engagement to Local Disasters Project

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Kevin Desouza, Director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, and Maggie Cowell, Assistant Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning, School of Public and International Affairs), have received a seed grant of $20,000 from the Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE) at Virginia Tech for a project titled “Resilience of Citizen Engagement to Local Disasters: Studying the Emergence and Dissolution of Community Networks.”

This research project will study how citizens merge into responsive communities, make an impact, and then dissolve during and after a disaster. It will bring into light locally significant disasters that do not earn national headlines and where the local community turns to their own resources to respond. Too often these local disasters and citizen responses are not studied but they are vital to deepening of our understanding of community resilience and the dynamics of citizen engagement. We will uncover the dynamics of community emergence in response to a disaster. Questions considered will include: who organizes citizens into a community, how, and why? How do they respond to the disaster? How is technology, especially social media, mobilized for community organization and relief operations? And finally, what leads to the disbanding of these communities and is there any institutional memory preserved? Consisting of a series of in-depth case studies, made up of first-person accounts and interviews together with a review of secondary sources, the research will look at three stages of a spontaneous community response: the assemblage; the action and impact; and the dissolution of the community. We will study how these emergent communities use technology creatively in the various stages of the community formation as a catalyst to overcome the lack of formal response mechanisms or response planning.

This project will provide valuable insights for citizen activists, planners, and policy makers on the functions and impacts of community response and improve our understanding of citizen engagement. Understanding the emergence, and impacts of local community response can inform the efficiency of more widespread responses. We will construct a web-based platform to share results from the research project (including video interviews with citizens, case studies, and community planning tools). In addition, the web-based platform will support networking and community building among citizens who are interested in building resilient community networks.

Faculty Fellow Showcase: Ralph Buehler

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Professor Ralph Buehler, assistant professor in the Urban Affairs and Planning department in the School of Public and International Affairs and Faculty Fellow to the Metropolitan Institute, shared some of his background and research highlights recently.

Professor Buehler can often be found exploring the Alexandria, VA, area by bicycle.

Q: Please tell us a bit about your academic background.

I am from Germany originally, where I studied Public Policy and Management at the University of Konstanz.  While getting my degree in Konstanz, I had the opportunity to live in London (UK), Paris (France) where I was an exchange student at the Sorbonne University, and in Germany’s capital Berlin. Moreover, in 2001/2002, I was an exchange student at Rutgers University, where I received a Masters degree in City and Regional Studies. In 2002, I returned to Germany to finish my Masters degree in Public Policy and Management. In fall 2003, I began my doctoral studies at the Bloustein School at Rutgers University. I finished my PhD in 2008 and my dissertation won the award for best dissertation by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning in 2008.

Q: What are your main research projects at the present time?

At this time, there are several research projects. One project focuses on the determinants of bicycling the Washington DC area. We use data from the regional travel survey and analyze cycling trends and policies in the District of Columbia, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax County, Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County. There are two parts to this study. First we develop case studies for each jurisdiction looking at trends in cycling levels and policies. Second, we use multiple regression analysis to identify determinants of cycling and bike commuting. The model on bike commuting includes interesting variables about facilities at work, such as showers, lockers, or changing rooms. Additionally, my research assistant added the regional bike infrastructure network to the data. Thus, we can analyze if people living within ¼ mile of a bike lane are more likely to cycle.

For another project we have two great data sets to compare transit riders in Germany and the USA. Continue reading →

The First 60 Days: Update from the Director

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It is time for me to catch my breath and take a few minutes to report on what we have been up to at the Metropolitan Institute. Depending on how you count, I have been working in my role as the Director of the Metropolitan Institute for about 60 days, or since June of 2011 (when I began serving on the President’s Long Range Planning Task Force). As I do not want to bore you with all the details of what we have been up to at the Metropolitan Institute, I will give you the CliffsNotes version:

  • I have had the pleasure to meet with leaders across Virginia Tech. These leaders have included the President, Provost, several Vice Provosts and Vice Presidents, heads of academic units (e.g. Electrical Engineering, Management, etc), Development Officers, directors of research institutes, faculty, staff, and graduate students. During these meetings, I spent time listening to their thoughts about the future of Virginia Tech, their impressions of the Institute, their ideas on how to grow the Institute, and exploring avenues for collaboration.
  • Joe Schilling (Associate Director of the Metropolitan Institute) and I have met with leaders from various organizations including, among others, the US Green Building Council, IBM Center for the Business of Government, and IBM Smarter Cities Program, to explore collaborative research relationships.
  • We have done a lot of work to build a viable infrastructure for the Institute. The faculty of the School of Public and International Affairs have been open and receptive to the new vision for the Institute. For the first time, we now have seven fellows of the Institute (Ralph Buehler, Margaret Cowell, Matt Dull, Ralph P. Hall, Derek S. Hyra, Paul Knox, and Kris Wernstedt). The Institute will work to support these researchers as they collaborate on projects, outreach efforts, and preparation of grants. We look forward to welcoming even more faculty to the Institute. Much effort has gone into envisioning the future of the Institute. One outcome of this effort is that we now have six research themes that bring researchers, practitioners, and students together to solve the most pressing problems facing metropolitans. These research themes are: Megacities and the New Metropolis, Resilience, Sustainability, Policy Informatics, Transportation, and Urban Regeneration. We also have a new website. While we still have more to do in terms of setting up an infrastructure, we are off to a wonderful start.
  • Of course, we have submitted grant proposals and journal papers for publication. We also have been active participants in conferences and workshops (e.g. Second Conference on Community Resiliency) and a number of outreach activities.
  • The Institute launched the Policy Informatics Initiative, which is gaining momentum. We are starting a few collaborative research projects, planning a workshop, forming a book proposal, and exploring funding opportunities.

One of my favorite quotes is by my football idol, Pelé who noted “Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.” In my role as the Director, I have to be enthusiastic. Being enthusiastic is easy when you are surrounded by good people who work hard and bring positive energy. My staff has been wonderful. They have welcomed me to the Institute, have bought into the new vision and strategy, and have supported me in all endeavors. They deserve a lot of credit for the things we have accomplished to date. I will continue to count on them as we take the Institute to greater heights.

I guarantee you that things are not going to slow down in the near future. We are hoping to develop new research collaborations, select visiting fellows and postdoctoral associates, submit several research proposals, and build mutually beneficial academic-industry partnerships. I am looking forward to my upcoming visit to the Blacksburg, the main campus of Virginia Tech, later this month. I will be briefing the Urban Affairs and Planning faculty about the Institute, meeting with leaders of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, collaborating with researchers on proposals, and participating in meetings as part of the President’s Long Range Planning Task Force.

I want to thank all of you. You are sources of enthusiasm, counsel, and friendship. I thank you for your patience, as well as your generosity with time and resources. You have been vital sources of energy that I have drawn upon (and I will continue to do so).

Tomorrow I am off to Paris to give several talks at IÉSEG School of Management.  One is on designing innovation programs and the other is on building a capacity for interdisciplinary research.

Au revoir!

Welcome from the Director

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Greetings,

It is a privilege to introduce myself as the new director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. I look forward to growing the Metropolitan Institute in the rich history of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, fueled by the dynamism of the School of Public and International Affairs. As we chart a new course for the Institute, I invite members of the Virginia Tech family (students, professors, and administrators) and past/future partner organizations from the Washington, DC metropolitan region and beyond, to visit our web site, review our upcoming work, and contact us as we explore new collaborations.

For the past decade, my intellectual curiosity has focused on designing more resilient and innovative organizations. Critical to this endeavor is understanding how information is managed within and beyond the organization’s borders. As part of my explorations, I have employed numerous research methodologies from behavioral to computational, and have collaborated with industry and academic partners across a range of disciplines from engineering to public administration and management.

A necessary reality of conducting my research was traveling to various parts of the globe to study organizations, the leaders and managers who were responsible for them, and the employees who supported their mission. Over the course of last five years, I have had the privilege of traveling to over 20 cities, including Mumbai, Madrid, Rome, Ljubljana, Johannesburg, Bangkok, London, and Prague. Observing and experiencing the diversity of metropolitan forms led me to consider the design and consequences of how information traversed urban systems across infrastructures, organizations, and social networks.

Urbanization is a major force of change in our world today and will impact the future of the planet on a number of dimensions from resiliency to sustainability and economic vitality. The need to become more effective and aware of the design and implementation of policies has never been more critical. Central to developing new and more effective models of urban policy are the needs to:

1. Innovate the policy setting process, making it more dynamic, inclusive, cost effective, and timely.

2. Leverage information through the deployment of computational systems, simulation platforms, and participatory platforms that allow for crowdsourcing of solutions to local problems

3. Facilitate multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches to framing, studying, and solving, the most complex urban problems.

I envision the future of the Metropolitan Institute as an open collaborative platform that brings together diverse expertise to solve complex urban issues. The Metropolitan Institute will fold together the best and brightest in the fields of informatics, urban planning, international affairs, engineering, and public policy to forge a new set of solutions for today’s urbanizing world. The Metropolitan Institute is a space that is open for all of you to connect and collaborate.

In the near-term, I plan to meet with stakeholders across Virginia Tech and also community partners, industry, and government to listen to your ideas. I have been humbled by the warm welcomes I have received from the various scholars and leaders at Virginia Tech. An esteemed university like Virginia Tech has many friends in public and private organizations across the 50 states and the world beyond. I look forward to meeting with the many friends of the University and welcoming them to the Institute. I am excited to begin designing a new future for Metropolitan Institute.

I look forward to meeting with you and hearing your ideas.

Kevin C. Desouza, PhD

Director, Metropolitan Institute
Associate Professor, Center for Public Administration and Policy
School of Public and International Affairs
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Virginia Tech