Hosted by the Jennings and Rebecca Jones Chair of Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning and Cumberland Region Tomorrow, the 2024 Forum on Growth and Challenges brought together the regional community to hear from speakers on the issues facing our region. David Plazas of the Tennessean moderated the event, featuring Joyce Heames, Dean of the Jones College of Business; Michael Skipper, Executive Director of Greater Nashville Regional Council; Ken Moore, Mayor of Franklin; Joe Pitts, Mayor of Clarksville; and Paige Brown, Mayor of Gallatin. We are thankful for the opportunity to learn from each of these speakers and look forward to next year's forum! For more information, email berc@mtsu.edu.

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Media Coverage

Midstate booming growth poses growing challenges in traffic, solid waste, housing, infrastructure, more | Jimmy Hart

Middle Tennessee’s exploding growth poses increasingly thorny challenges that were discussed recently in a sobering forum co-hosted by Middle Tennessee State University’s Jennings and Rebecca Jones Chair of Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning and the nonprofit Cumberland Region Tomorrow.

Full Article from MTSU News

Nashville’s population is exploding. A three-hour commute proves it | David Plazas 

The Nashville region grew by more than 30,000 people in a year. That's 86 people per day. So if you felt the roads get more crowded, you weren't imagining things.

Full Article from The Tennessean

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I. Introduction

II. Regional Trends

III. Implications for Environment, Transportation, and Mobility

IV. Regional Responses

V. Mayor Forum: Does Growth Pay For Itself?

 

 

VII. Mayor Forum: How Do We have Productive Conversations about Growth?

 

VIII. Mayor Forum: How Do We Change the Conversation about Housing Development?