From the Director

Dear Friends,

Many of you have told us of the varieties of growing pains being experienced in your regions, all presenting us with opportunities to question the way we build our state now and in the future.  With dramatic increases in population and an economy in transition from manufacturing to technology and services, it goes without question that the landscape of our state is rapidly changing. It is equally certain that our infrastructure is failing to keep pace.

The state will have to make tough choices on infrastructure investments in the years to come. How will those choices be made? As I mentioned in our June newsletter, the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) is asking tough questions around these issues as we embark on our newest - and possibly most ambitious - program of work on growth and infrastructure: Changing Landscapes: Building the Good Growth State? Through this program of work, IEI is seeking visionary strategies to address the complex infrastructure issues related to how we maintain a sound built environment in the face of unprecedented growth. We are also seeking committed leaders who are well prepared to adopt and implement those strategies. 

This fall, we will travel across the state to convene focus groups so we better understand the way growth is affecting different regions of the state. We will also convene working groups to better define the vision for North Carolina’s built environment and offer policy options for action. These efforts will feed a much larger vetting process on infrastructure needs at the 2009 Emerging Issues Forum, scheduled for February 9-10 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

As always, we call on you to provide us with guidance as we prepare for the work ahead.  Please contact us with suggestions of stakeholders to engage as well as ideas for how to question what it means for North Carolina to be a “good growth state.”  You can reach us at institute@ncsu.edu.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2009 Forum as we tackle some of North Carolina’s most urgent infrastructure challenges and identify opportunities for action.