A few months ago, our friend John Lawrence wrote a nine-part series on this blog about the Memphis and Shelby County Regional Economic Plan, the local edition of the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Business Plan.  The plan now has a website that elaborates on the themes of his posts and fills in more information about the work.

According to Brookings, the Metropolitan Business Plan helps “metro and state leaders adapt the discipline of private-sector business planning to the task of revitalizing regional development. Such planning provides a framework through which regional business, civic, and government leaders can rigorously analyze the market position of their region; identify strategies by which to capitalize on their unique assets; specify catalytic products, policies and interventions; and establish detailed operational and financial plans. These plans can then, in turn, be used to restructure federal, state and philanthropic engagement in ways that invert the current top-down, highly siloed and often ineffective approach to cities and metropolitan areas while bringing new efficiency to development activity.”

Click here for the website.

Here are the links to Mr. Lawrence’s commentaries on this blog:

The Series:

Part One: Creating a Process on Economic Development

Part Two: Securing the Global Logistics Brand

Part Three: Diversifying the Economy Beyond Logistics

Part Four: Leveraging Assets for International Trade 

Part Five: Building A New Manufacturing Workforce

Part Six: Organizing for Innovative Entrepreneurial Growth

Part Seven: Connecting Jobs, Workers, Institutions & Activity Centers

Part Eight: Tracking the Market to Understand Emerging Opportunities

Part Nine: First-Step Initiatives