Reporting on the ground in one of America's Evolving Cities

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2 days ago

Anyone who's lived in Nashville for any length of time is familiar with the rapid pace of change here.
So it's hardly a surprise the city landed on a list of regions that are projected to continue growing in the report "Empowering American Cities" from the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina.
The report is a yearslong partnership between the institute and Fifth Third Bank, and while there are many lists of growing cities out there, this one goes beyond population statistics and incorporates a variety of economic drivers.
Factors driving the top cities' growth, according to the institute's findings, include affordable housing, green space, the absence of a state income tax, walkable neighborhoods and warm weather.
And while controversial tariffs, immigration policies and shrinking federal spending have created uncertainty and may slow growth, the top-performing cities still are expected to continue to make gains, according to the institute's chief economist Gerald Cohen.
Still, the institute's insights served as a mere jumping off point for the USA TODAY Network project America's Evolving Cities.
Journalists from across the country, who live and work in cities that made the list, took a close look at their hometowns' unique paths to success — and how fellow residents have benefited or suffered along the way.
The Kenan Institute's report, along with insights from Cohen, provided an overview.
Then the journalists filled in the picture from the ground in Phoenix, Des Moines, Nashville and Florida's Space Coast. They crisscrossed the suburbs, spoke with everyone from community leaders to working-class residents, dug through archival photos to illustrate their communities' evolution, and captured residents' connections with their home cities on video.
The result is a comprehensive look at what it feels like to live in a growing city — the hope and tension, the nostalgia and excitement.
Have a Nashville story to share? Reach city editor Liz Schubauer at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Reporting on the ground in one of America's Evolving Cities