We were overwhelmed by the response to our call for your New Year's resolutions for our region. This word cloud of commonly reoccurring words from your submissions offer a glimpse into the varied, ambitious goals we have for this remarkable place.

Third Street SE in the heart of the New Bohemia neighborhood is a place to see and be seen. A place to browse locally owned shops for vintage furniture or high-end fashion or books. To meet over a cup of coffee, a beer or a meal. To experience artists’ installations or shop your way through the NewBo City Market — the latest jewel adding to the neighborhood’s vibrancy, novelty and diversity.

When a group of University of Iowa graduate students set out to work with the city of Cedar Rapids to address workforce retention, the group did not anticipate what would surface as one of the most critical issues — diversity.

Each work day brings a variety of projects to Washington’s Chamber of Commerce director Michelle Peiffer and Debbie Stanton, director of the Washington Public Library.

Over the next year, the City of Washington, Washington Public Library and the Washington Chamber of Commerce will get some help in the form of projects being done free of charge by graduate and upper class undergraduate students from the University of Iowa.

University of Iowa graduate students could play a big role helping Muscatine residents shape their community for the years to come. Monday provided local leaders an initial glimpse at what the process might look like. Second-year graduate students participating in the university’s Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities joined their professors as well as some of the city’s civic and business...

Nick Benson serves in a number of roles these days, but his favorite is probably matchmaker. As coordinator of the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC), Benson is making new connections between the University of Iowa and Iowa communities.

Drive through any Iowa community and you are likely to find some form of public art. While they may not always be obvious to the eye, art installations can be found in parks, city halls, libraries, open spaces, sidewalks and more. Public art can include sculptures, murals and paintings as well as performances, concerts or lectures. These various forms of art can have a lasting impact on a...

Graduate students in the University of Iowa School of Urban and Regional Planning have received national recognition for their groundbreaking sustainability project in the city of Dubuque.

Built on more than brick and mortar, communities depend on innovative local leaders and passionate residents to create progressive change and a unique identity. For nearly four years, the University of Iowa’s Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities, part of the School of Urban and Regional Planning, has allowed local students and faculty to gain hands-on experience with sustainable community...