Economic Gardening: My Favorite New-to-Me Idea of 2012

Scott Dunscombe noted on Twitter that this article I wrote about how cities ought to look beyond high-tech for this economic destiny has a fair amount in common with what Portland mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith calls "economic gardening."

And in fact, though I didn’t use the phrase in the piece that’s exactly what I had in mind while I was writing about it. I even heard the phrase when I was in Portland over the summer, from someone who I believe was working on Smith’s campaign. After Googling, the phrase turns out to not be unique to him but instead dates from Littleton, Colorado in 1987. Fittingly, the Kaufmann Foundation seems enthusastic about the idea which is neat because a report Kaufmann released a few weeks ago that doesn’t use the phrase at all was one of the inspirations for what I wrote.

But I’ve come to be really taken with the metaphor, or at least my understanding of it.

By Matthew Yglesias

Full Story: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/04/economic_gardening_my_favorite_new_to_me_idea_of_2012.html