"A Summons to Memphis" was created in 2013 by Memphis magazine, as a special event designed to encourage conversations about cities - and how to make them better. Building upon the title of late author and Memphian Peter Taylor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Summons to Memphis, Memphis magazine began annually "summoning" a speaker to Memphis who could speak with authority about determining the character, spirit, and the essence of the place we call home. Past speakers include Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, Mayor Karl Dean of Nashville, Mayor Andy Berke of Chattanooga, and Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City.
“Here in the South, our cities have for a long time been less dense but our populations have grown in the era of the personal automobile. We’ve been less reliant on mass transit and our development has been more spread out. With the trend of more people moving into cities, we have to accept that transit is going to be essential to our future. We need a more robust mass transit system in Nashville and in all the big cities in Tennessee if we [want to] remain the economic drivers of our state.” |
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"Andy Berke spoke to a large contingent of local business leaders about the remarkable growth he's witnessed in Tennessee's fourth largest city. Emphasizing the need for innovation hubs, Berke noted Chattanooga's world-class wireless infrastructure, a new standard for cities in the digital age." |
"For decades, Oklahoma City had trouble maintaining itself as a viable urban environment, undergoing economic depression and the infamous “Dust Bowl” depopulation of the ’30s, followed by a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t offer from United Airlines to locate a hub there ... |
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"Landrieu was the inaugural “Summons to Memphis” speaker — the event titled in honor of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by the late Peter Taylor, the eminent Memphian who was himself feted at a Memphis-sponsored banquet a generation ago. |