ED Profession

Do Economic Developers know what they are doing? The Curmudgeon in Wonderland! Have Economic Developers fallen into a rabbit hole? Have they lost sight of what it is they are supposed to be doing? Is creating jobs as a goal a sure way for the Queen of Hearts to say “Off with your Head”?
The Curmudgeon, having considerable experience with the Alice in Wonderland world of economic development, offers a host of reasons why having job creation as your goal for economic development programs and strategies ensures madness, disappointment and worse for your agency, for the community and for your career. In the Curmudgeon’s Wonderland-world economic developers do a whole lot more than mere job creation—it’s time we rethink just what it is we are doing as Economic Developers! Save your profession, help your community and increase your odds of career survival

The Curmudgeon has followed Rybczynski since he first read, HOME, back in the 1980’s. Occupationally Rybczynski is an architectural critic but he is much more than that. His written works have been excellent and critically acclaimed and his latest work, Makeshift Metropolis, ought to be read by serious scholars and practitioners alike. Makeshift offers a […]