Aside from climate, education may be the most powerful predictor of urban growth.
Cold weather cities and regions in the U.S. have been relatively uncompetitive for some years. In this research brief, "Smart Growth: Education, skilled workers and the cold-weather cities", Ed Glaeser finds links between human capital and growth, looks for an exogenous indicator and picks the number of local higher education establishments.
"Cities that cannot draw residents withtheir sunny weather need to be especiallyconcerned about skills. When economictrends turn against cold-weather cities,they must have the skills to reinventthemselves... [B]etter-educated cold-weathermetropolitan areas with higher-skilledworkforces such as Minneapolis-St.Paul and Missoula have endured thepopulation shift toward the Sun Beltby reinventing themselves, and bybeing places that skilled individuals arereluctant to abandon even during hardeconomic times."
[Editor's note: The link below is to a 300KB PDF.]
Thanks to Peter Gordon's Blog
FULL STORY: Smart Growth: Education, skilled workers and the cold-weather cities

Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.

National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.

Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.

Test News Post 1
This is a summary

Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.

Test News Headline 46
Test for the image on the front page.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service