Pittsburgh might be called the city of surprises. Contrary to a long-lived reputation for smoke and steel, this post-modern metropolis has become a world-class example of a city excelling in the art of self-transformation.


Even after the decline of steel in the 1980s, manufacturing remains a powerful and now more stable part of Pittsburgh's future. Across its diversified economy jobs flow from a larger stream of businesses, institutions, and startup enterprises in health care, education, information technologies, robotics, fashion, and finance--as well as an array of professional services in engineering, accounting and law.


To these dynamic sectors, Pittsburgh adds the assets of a well-maintained infrastructure, a world-renowned catalog of educational and research institutions, and a calendar of diversions kept full throughout the year. Placed in a landscape that captures the eye with its natural and created vistas, Pittsburgh has used the lessons of change to learn how to look ahead.


Read more about it each week in our sister publication, Pop City, devoted to Pittsburgh's transformation.
 

Out of the Classroom, into the Market: The Growing Business of Tech Transfer

By: John Steele, 6/4/2009 As research universities across the Commonwealth focus more resources on innovation and industries, they're getting savvy about how to turn laboratory and classroom ideas into cutting-edge technology companies.

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Q&A: Barbara VanKirk of IQ Inc.

By: John Davidson, 5/7/2009 Barbara VanKirk, founder of the Murrysville-based IT consulting firm IQ Inc., has been in the software business for more than 30 years and has seen drastic changes to the industry. We spoke with VanKirk about the past, the ever-changing present and the not-too-distant future of computer technology.

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Measuring Vital Signs: Pittsburgh Today Details the Region Under John Craig's Watchful Eye

By: Joseph Plummer, 4/30/2009 As a former newspaperman, John Craig possesses a honed talent for challenging the veracity of stories told to him. That habit of mind helps drive his work to secure Pittsburgh Today as one of America's rare repositories of information about the relative performance of a metropolitan region.

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Stimulus Breakdown: Where the Money's Going

By: John Steele, 4/23/2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has begun sending funds to America's most troubled cities. Interest in how tax dollars are being spent is high, so we thought we should let you know where Pennsylvania's sizable piece of the funding pie is going to end up. Here's a look at three large funding recipients--and what they plan to do with your money.

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Reclaiming the Rivers: A Holistic Vision for Pittsburgh

By: Abby Mendelson, 4/16/2009 Once industrial wastelands, Pittsburgh's Three Rivers are now engines driving the twin goals of recreation and economic growth--and a shining example of how to reconnect a city to its waterfront.

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