The lives of the young and the old rarely cross in many American cities. After I moved to Austin, I used a volunteer opportunity as a way to change that.

The Seattle area, home to both Microsoft and Amazon, is a potent symbol of the affordable housing crisis that has followed the explosive growth of tech hubs.

To overcome tech's employment gap, a number of organizations in Dallas are providing free or affordable career training to children, women, and minorities.

Before mid-November, Long Island City and Crystal City were never on the same page, much less uttered in the same sentence. Though both destinations are on the East Coast (New York and Virginia, respectively) and within shouting distance of a major metropolitan center, they had little else in common.

The idea that a company’s mission can transcend profit is becoming more mainstream. More businesses are realizing that by reorienting around a purpose-driven culture, they can attract and energize employees, delight and retain customers and achieve better business outcomes for shareholders.

From homelessness and housing to big tech and budgets, the forces shaping urbanism in the coming year.

California voters are being asked to tax big corporations to solve local problems. But is that the companies’ responsibility?

Walmart plans to lease underutilized land and parking acreage to restaurants, gyms and other businesses to create community centers built around its sprawling supercenters

Chasing an HQ2 is a dying model. As the nature of working changes, U.S. cities that provide workers with the support that companies once did, will prosper.

The gap in wealth in the United States between the ultrawealthy and everyone else has reached its widest point in decades. One way to narrow the divide is through the use of worker buyouts, in which ownership of a company transfers from a single person or a small number of people to the workers of the company.

Is talent the most important factor? Taxes? Crime? It's a long list.

The Indy region offers great diversity when it comes to lifestyle and the pillars of the business community.

An elite workforce will expect bike paths, dog parks and vegan gastropubs. And "a compatible cultural and community environment."

A pro-business environment and an enviable quality of life have made Cape Coral a haven for biomedical and other light manufacturing companies.

One of the most challenging aspects of developing a new mixed-use community is the retail component.

Amazon's HQ2 site selection process is more than just a point along a timeline charting its evolution as one of the world's most transformative companies. It is a reset button that will likely have implications far beyond Amazon.

Most municipalities have abandoned their efforts to resist the Ubers and Airbnbs of the world. But there’s a lot both sides can do to heal the rift.

Different approaches that can help to further advance the way ideas are sourced, shared, scoped and shepherded through the innovation process, so that public sector organizations can improve the yield of ideas moving through their pipelines.

Companies looking to hire millennials need to take into account their lifestyle and workplace preferences, while figuring out how to train them and integrate them into a multigenerational workforce.

A pro-business environment is helping Tennessee to attract headquarters operations and grow its business and professional services sector, while its quality of life draws workers to the state.

Seattle is experiencing some serious growing pains, and many longtime residents blame Amazon for forcing their town to grow up too fast.

Millennials' affinity for cities seems undeniable, as the increasingly car-less contingent relies on the accessibility and conveniences that urban environments offer.

Albany International, producer of the LEAP-X engine, notes the City of Rochester’s educated workers, high quality of life, and diverse housing options are critical to the company’s success.

Run-the-robots jobs at Tesla’s Gigafactory and elsewhere are turning the city into a hipster haven.

Communities with good highway accessibility and top-notch talent will continue to emphasize their unique quality of life as a differentiator to both attract and retain employers and employees alike.

For firms, it’s become imperative to look beyond geographic borders to attract and retain top talent. This is partly due to the fact that 77% of CEOs report being concerned about the availability of key skills, according to PwC. Seventy-seven percent also agree or strongly agree that they move talent to where they need it. Marshall Goldsmith, who has coached CEOs at dozens of global Fortune 500 companies, told me that the talent game is becoming geographically borderless. “What companies want is a leadership base that at least somewhat parallels their customer base. So you don’t have a group of leaders that doesn’t have anything in common with their customers.”

When it comes to attracting tech-savvy millennials, companies are giving a fresh look to metro areas and downtowns that will give them a competitive edge.

Choosing a location where your employees can have a healthy work-life balance can lower employee turnover and also increase their productivity.

What constitutes quality of life depends largely on the eye of the beholder, and that eye may gaze through different lenses at different times.

When Americans consider a move to another part of the country, they sometimes are forced to make a tough choice: should they go to a city with the best job opportunities, or a less economically vital area that offers a better standard of living, particularly more affordable housing? However,  there are still plenty of metropolitan areas in the U.S. where you can get the best of both worlds.

n an interview with theCube at the Juniper Nxtwork 2016 Summit in Santa Clara, California, The City of Dublin’s CIO Doug McCollough said the impact of digital transformation results in a competitive advantage for citizens.

London, Singapore, Toronto and Paris top the 2016 benchmark (our 7th edition) of the broad urban qualities that make 30 global business, finance and culture capitals successful. Beneath the headline results of who finishes first, however, findings show the heart of the city revolves around balanced social and economic strengths.

Labor, costs, and accessibility always take precedence, but as the war for talent continues, quality of life has gained in importance, while unionization rates are less of an issue for knowledge workers.

U.S. News analyzed the 100 most populous metro areas to find the best places to live. To make the top of the list, a place had to have good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life.

Pitt County is building on its success in the life sciences sector and its quality-of-life advantages.

or all the talk of residential, retail and hotels moving into urban cores, some industry watchers report a wave of suburban companies moving their headquarters downtown or establishing second offices in city centers to bolster hiring and enhance employee retention. Studies show Millennials, in particular, are driving the trend toward alternative transportation issues like Uber and Divvy bikes because they don’t want to own a car.’

Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence how firms work, too.

Glassdoor has released its second annual Employment Satisfaction Report Card by City (2014), offering a comparison by city of overall employee satisfaction, number of employers hiring, business outlook expectations and more, according to local employees in the 50 largest U.S. metros.

Plenty of towns talk about revitalizing their downtowns. Fargo is actually doing it, thanks to the happy combination of a good economy, a thriving business climate and motivated residents.

One of the most often cited reasons for the location of a new business is quality of life, yet it is one of the areas policymakers most often overlook.

The commerce department has begun releasing data on something called "regional price parity," a figure that shows how high prices in a given place are compared to the rest of the nation.

High satisfaction linked to more optimism that area is improving

As companies compete for talent, “place” is an asset that can be honed, improved, and marketed to potential employees.

In a world economy that is becoming more globalised, cities beyond the traditional financial and business centres are working to improve their quality of living so they can attract more foreign companies. This year’s survey recognises so-called ‘second tier’ or ‘emerging’ cites and points to a few examples from around the world These cities have been investing massively in their infrastructure and attracting foreign direct investments by providing incentives such as tax, housing, or entry facilities.

Report calls on policy makers to make happiness a key measure and target of development. Report ranks the happiest countries, with Northern Europe in the lead.

Sioux Falls, S.D., gains thousands of new residents each year. Leaders point to business opportunities, diversity and quality of life as reasons for its growth. This kind of boom comes with conflict, and Sioux Falls faces challenges to continuing development.

Call them aspirational cities, or magnets of opportunity, but the urban areas attracting today’s ambitious citizens are most likely Southern, culturally vibrant, modest sized, long on jobs, and short on traffic, write Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox.

Biking map site BikeScore has released a new ranking of the country’s best cities for biking, accounting for factors like bike lanes, hilliness, route options, and number of commuters. How does your city rank?

A number of entities give cities in the U.S. and abroad scores for livability based on a variety of criteria. Use these resources to find out how livable your city is

Live in Hawaii, Colorado, or Minnesota? Chances are, you’re happier than your brethren in Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Virginia. That’s according to the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

Utah easily leads the nation in terms of its performance across 13 forward-looking metrics that might determine which states will be the best places to live in the future. Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, and North Dakota round out the top five.

We attempted to quantify 'coolness' for the 65 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan Divisions (areas that include cities and their surrounding suburbs as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget) based on seven data points we weighted evenly.

Using mapping technology and demographic data, we determined how well each of the 40 largest U.S. cities is meeting the need for parks.

When compared to the 2011 results, the 2012 rankings reveal a high degree of consistency in the top 10 states. Seven states from last year's top 10 repeated that feat this year. However, the analysis did yield a new champion: Virginia.

Hawaii residents had the highest wellbeing in the nation in 2011 with a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index score of 70.2, maintaining that state's No. 1 status for a third consecutive year. North Dakota, Minnesota, Utah, and Alaska rounded out the top five states. West Virginia residents had the lowest wellbeing, with a score of 62.3, slightly improved from 61.7 in 2010.

For those who live and thrive by what happens in pharma, hospitals, medical device, health IT and all other things medical, here’s a good list of the top 10 medical cities that matter today (and in the future).

Our 20-part formula analyzed 774 communities in 12 Eastern states and the District of Columbia, searching for places that have healthy economies, light traffic, moderate costs of living, impressive housing stocks and strong educational systems.

European cities dominate worldwide quality of living rankings

The Economist Intelligence Unit has identified the most livable cities in the world. Three of them are in Canada.