John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America, hails from Meridian Mississippi.  As the former Mayor, he saw how even a small city of 40,000 can be the center of a much larger region, providing services for over 350,000 people.  It might give us a little bit of a different perspective when it comes to smaller cities and urban areas.

The Great Recession has hammered Ohio. The unemployment rate topped 9 percent in its three largest regions of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus. And the 2010 Census revealed that the cities of Cincinnati and Cleveland lost 10.4% and 17.1% of their population over the course of the decade.

Continuing with the second video about Typologies, Sam Zimbabwe discusses what cities and regions need to think about before creating a typology.  What are the goals?  Is it affordable housing? Is it access?  Increased development?  Check out what Sam has to say, and stay tuned for more! 

(Note: This is another in our series of expert blogs on TOD highlighting work and research that experts and advocates are doing in the field. Today we have Jennifer Gennari, Communications Director at Greenbelt Alliance)

This has been the month of employment and transit!  This morning the Brookings Institute held an event to release their report about transit connections to employment; an in depth report on the state of access in the United States.  Additionally, the Center for TOD released two papers on the subject of Employment Centers and TOD and the Transit Space Race 2011 report that was released last month documenting new transit lines and the additional jobs and low income residents they would serve.

Today the Center for Transit-Oriented Development released two papers on employment centers and thier relationship to transit. We'll cover the second paper on industries that locate near transit later. For now, let's focus on the first paper, "Transit-Oriented Development & Employment"

TransForm, a California organization that promotes public transportation and walkable communities, recently released its "Windfall for All" report, which highlights the  potential financial benefits that efficient neighborhoods and improved transportation choices offer the state and its people.