This year marks the third annual Pages & Places Book Festival in Scranton on Saturday.
The event is intimately tied to Scranton as a place, its creators say:
“Pages & Places grew out of two overlapping phenomena. On the one hand, there’s the obvious, ongoing revitalization of the city of Scranton, manifest in new construction and the rehabilitation of some of the city’s landmark architecture, in the influx of new downtown residences, and the reinvigoration of long-time and former residents who have committed to opening businesses downtown. On the other is the realization …

I love TV’s The Wire. When I heard about this self-guided, Wire-themed tour of Baltimore, I thought, “That’s the self-guided tour of Baltimore I’ve been waiting for.” But I read something a few days later that paralyzed my ambitions. Christian Lander, author of the blog and book “Stuff White People Like,” explained in an interview:

When and how did you get the idea for the site?

January 18th. A friend and I were having an IM conversation about The Wire. He said, “Not enough white people watch The Wire.” I said, “Don’t worry, they do.” We started talking about what they’re doing instead of watching The Wire : therapy, getting divorced, going to plays…

Lots of people who care about cities have focused their energy on helping cities attract college graduates, as the college degree share of a region is highly correlated with how successful it is economically.
This report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland cautions that  ”too narrow a focus on the graduates can lead to misguided policies”
It continues:
“It is a summary statistic that can change for many reasons. One metro area could have a fast-rising share because it has a lot of universities graduating local students or attracting high-skilled immigrants. Another area …

For more than two years, Rust Wire has been inviting photographers to share their perspective on Rust Belt cities. Now, we have collected some of the best shots into a traveling exhibition.
In case you missed it in Pittsburgh in April, Rust Wire is hosting another showing of our Big Urban Photography Project in Clevelandtown! The show opens 5:30 on Thursday, July 7 at Cleveland Public Art, 1951 W. 26th Street.

The show will feature the work of nearly one dozen photographers hailing from Buffalo, Erie, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown and other cities.
We …

Akron is a smart city. I just want to get that out of the way.
I was just browsing Green City Blue Lake Today and I stumbled across this: Akron Maps Out Sustainable Land Use and Transportation. Writes GCBL’s Mark Lefkowitz:
Connecting Communities: A Guide to Integrating Land Use and Transportation is a good read on the Akron/Summit region’s development patterns with an eye toward “increasing transportation choices, improving connectivity and reducing environmental impact.”
Wowza.
The article continues that Akron will be inventorying parking, sidewalks, transit stops, bikeways and landuse to explore …