The Clever Communities Workshop
A two-day workshop dedicated to rediscovering the
Forgotten Fundamentals of Economic Development
September 17 - 18, 2026 | Dallas, TX
Your city’s greatest economic asset is already there.
You just need to unlock it.
For decades, economic development has focused on "big game hunting" – luring large out-of-town businesses that ship all of their profits out of the community. While those projects generate headlines due to their initial capital investment and potential jobs, they ignore many of the fundamentals of economic development that offer cities significantly better chances of building sustainable pathways to prosperity in the twenty-first century.
This first-of-its-kind workshop – held at Tyler Station in Dallas, Texas – focuses on those Forgotten Fundamentals: how we physically grow our communities, create robust pipelines of promising entrepreneurs, and foster the development of businesses that keep profits local. You will learn not only how to leverage these tools for the benefit of your community, but also how to navigate the most common hurdles to developing a diversified economy that is both anti-fragile and less dependent upon the fortunes of other communities.
Come away with…
A comprehensive understanding of what factors drive land value, and how a robust urban fabric lays the foundation for your city’s bottom line.
Actionable tools to change policy in your city to grow entrepreneurship.
A network of doers focused on rediscovering the fundamental means of unlocking economic development.
The methodology to map your city’s tax yield, mapping quantitative numbers to increase retail sales, property values, income taxes, and jobs in your city through low-cost, high-impact interventions.
An action plan to convert your community’s existing economic potential into economic growth.
Featured Speakers
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Monte Anderson
President of Options Real Estate and Cofounder of the Incremental Development Alliance. A leading advocate for incremental, small-scale urban development.
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Joe Minicozzi, AICP
Principal of Urban3 and a pioneer in data-driven land use economics and municipal fiscal analysis.
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Nathan Norris
Economic Development Director for the City of Clermont and Founder of the CityBuilding Partnership, specializing in placemaking, economic development, and the policy implementation of walkable urbanism.
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Edward Erfurt
Chief Technical Advisor at Strong Towns and an expert in municipal implementation, focusing on fiscal resilience and incremental urban design.
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Kevin Shepherd
Founder and CEO of Verdunity and a licensed engineer dedicated to building fiscally resilient and sustainable communities.
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![Kennedy Smith]()
Kennedy Smith
Senior Researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and a nationally recognized authority on Main Street economic revitalization and local business development.
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Daniel Hintz
Founder and CEO of the Velocity Group, helping communities turn placemaking, downtown strategy, and regional economic development initiatives into catalytic investment and stronger local economies.
Agenda
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08:30 – 09:00: Coffee and Mingle
09:00 – 10:00: Introduction - Why the Forgotten Fundamentals are Changing the Future of Economic Development
Speaker: Nathan Norris
Description: Timeless Design Works has decades of experience advising developers, cities and towns in building great places. Here are the things we all used to know about placemaking...but forgot.
10:00 – 10:15: A Note from Citymakers Collective
Speaker: Will McCollum
Description: Citymakers Collective teaches aspiring citymakers the holistic principles of resilient, beautiful, and prosperous places.
10:15 – 11:30: Placemaking as an Economic Development Tool
Speaker: Nathan Norris
Description: Finding the value at the intersection of placemaking and economic development. In this session, you will find how to seek brilliance in the basics, and meet thought leaders at the forefront of the field.
11:30 – 12:30: Catered Lunch
12:30 – 1:30: Tour of Tyler Station: An Innovative Approach to Growing Local Talent into Seasoned Business Owners
Speaker: Monte Anderson
Description: Monte Anderson is a guru to small-scale developers across the nation. Learn how he turns local talent into thriving business owners while revitalizing his hometown.
1:30 – 1:45: Break / Networking
1:45 – 3:00: #DoTheMath: Which Neighborhoods Are Paying the Bills?
Speaker: Joe Minicozzi
Description: Urban3 has pioneered a process for mapping the relative financial surplus or deficit generated by different land development patterns. Here's how you can map land productivity to make strategic investments.
3:15 – 4:30: How to Generate Long Term Prosperity by Keeping Profits Local
Speaker: Kennedy Smith
Description: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance explains how to shift economic incentives back toward Main Street, and how to find a productive balance between locals and nationals.
6:00 – 7:30: Dinner & Cocktail Party
Description: Reconvening off-site for dinner and drinks. Mix, mingle, and share war stories.
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08:30 – 09:00: Coffee!
09:00 – 10:00: Incremental Development for Entrepreneurs: Neighborhood Evolution's 12 Steps
Speaker: Monte Anderson
Description: How do you give the power to change neighborhoods to the people who live in them? Neighborhood Evolution will walk through their 12 Steps to Town Making for entrepreneurs.
10:00 – 10:15: Break / Networking
10:15 – 11:30: The Strong Towns Approach for Community Fiscal Resilience & Wealth Creation
Speaker: Edward Erfurt, Strong Towns
Description: Strong Towns is the premier advocacy network for building financially resilient communities through productive development patterns. Here's how they turn Local Conversations into action to improve fiscal sustainability, flexibility, and vulnerability.
11:30 – 12:30: Catered Lunch + Pop-Up Panel! Participants Share Current Projects and Initiatives
12:45 – 1:45: Breaking Barriers to Business: Removing Red Tape that Strangles Entrepreneurship
Speaker: Zoe Tishaev
Description: The Institute for Justice is a public interest civil liberties firm that works to protect the right to earn an honest living. Learn how local regulations can limit your small-scale businesses, and what can be done about it.
1:45 – 2:00: Break
2:00 – 3:00: Texas Cities that are Leading the Way
Speaker: Kevin Shepherd / Tom Yantis
Description: Public planners assume endless growth will pay for all our "stuff." Americans are learning the hard way that this plan is flawed. Here's a glimpse into Verdunity's process and tools for helping towns and cities achieve long-term fiscal sustainability.
3:00 – 4:15: Northwest Arkansas Case Study: Learning from the Ambitious Transformation
Speaker: Daniel Hintz
Description: Hear from a real example in Arkansas: Fayetteville transformed their downtown through strategic investment, creating BIDs, and building people power. How can your city do the same?
4:30 – 5:15: Roundtable Conversation: Better Approaches to Your Biggest Concerns
Speaker: Nathan Norris & You!
Description: Revision Focus: Forget the tool. How did we get here? What are they doing to fix things? Who has been at the cutting edge since before this had a name and do you want a peek in the future?
The Venue: Tyler Station
Oak Cliff Brewing Company @ Tyler Station
1300 S. Polk St., Dallas, TX 75224
DART Red Line: Tyler / Vernon Station
Tyler Station transformed a historic 1920s wax paper factory from a contaminated industrial site that had been vacant for over 20 years into a 110,000 square foot adaptive reuse development in the heart of the Oak Cliff Neighborhood in Southern Dallas. Developed without public subsidy in 2018 by Monte Anderson, Tyler Station is now home to 85 businesses ranging from breweries to light manufacturing, artisan workshops, and coworking spaces.
A mixed-use hub for local entrepreneurs, located steps from the Tyler/Vernon DART station, Tyler Station is an exemplar of incremental, community-driven development and the perfect backdrop to the Clever Communities Workshop.
For more information, see the Tyler Station Website
Register Now
Frequently Asked Questions
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Regular Admission Pricing (Until 8/20): $400
Last-Minute Tickets (After 8/20): $495
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Payment to the workshop includes:
Access to workshops and speaking from national and international thought leaders in the realm of incremental economic development.
Catered lunches for both days of the conference, provided by local entrepreneurs.
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Attendees in need of local lodging are encouraged to book a room at one of the below establishments. Both are located along the DART’s Red Line, making travel between the hotels, workshop venue, and planned dinner locations quick and easy.
Canopy by Hilton Dallas Uptown
2950 Cityplace West Blvd, Dallas, TX 75204
(214) 522–2929
DART Red Line: Cityplace / Uptown Station (~25 min north of venue)
Base Rate per Night: $317
Guest Rating: 9.2
The Canopy by Hilton Dallas Uptown is located within the West Village borough of Dallas’ Uptown, just a short walk (<450 ft) from the west exit of the Cityplace/Uptown DART Station (note that this station exits to both the eastern and western sides of the Central Expressway/US 75). The area now known as Uptown was redeveloped beginning in the late ‘90s as an early example of the New Urbanist planning movement. Its pedestrian-friendly streets have created a vibrant urban lifestyle for the working professionals who inhabit the apartments which top the area’s boutiques, restaurants, bars and clubs. West Village boasts over thirty shops and cuisine from around the world, including Mediterranean, Italian, and Thai options. The Canopy offers complimentary bikes to cruise the borough and a heritage streetcar line—the M-Line Trolley—runs along McKinney Avenue to and from the Arts District at no cost to riders.
A full breakfast—including brisket hash—is available at the hotel’s Free Ride café beginning at 6 am, though it is not included in the base rate. Valet parking is available for $36 per night; self-parking is not offered at the Canopy. Attendees will be invited to join dinners nearby the Canopy on Wednesday and Thursday night.
Hyatt Regency Dallas
300 Reunion Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75207
(214) 651–1234
DART Red Line: EBJ Union Station (~15 min north of venue)
Base Rate per Night: $284
Guest Rating: 9.2
The Hyatt Regency Dallas is situated alongside the iconic Reunion Tower, within the western area of downtown Dallas known as the Reunion District. An underground tunnel connects the hotel to the DART’s EBJ Union Station, a central hub for Dallas many transit options including the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) which offers direct rail service to DFW Airport. The hotel is a short walk from Dealey Plaza in the West End Historic District, the now infamous location of the JFK assassination and—from a more optimistic perspective—the birthplace of Dallas as the site of its first home, first courthouse, first post office, and first store. While not as walkable as Uptown, the downtown area boasts plenty of restaurants and myriad points of historic and cultural interest. The Hyatt Regency Dallas offers a convenient market (Coffee’s Post) alongside a number of dining options in its massive 18-story atrium, including the Centennial, which begins serving breakfast at 6:30 am. Breakfast is not included in the base rate.
Both self-parking ($30/night) and valet parking ($50/night) are available for guests.
Located at Dallas’ central transit hub, halfway between the workshop venue and the site of planned dinner locations, this option offers attendees convenient transportation throughout the journey.
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Attendees without vehicles will have plenty of transit options from the moment of arrival at either DFW International or Dallas Love Field Airport. The metro area offers ride sharing options such as Uber and Lyft in addition to the robust Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) authority, which operates commuter rail, light rail, and buses throughout the city.
All planned events take place within walking distance from the DART’s Red Line. Attendees are encouraged to download the GoPass app and link a credit or debit card for easy purchase of day passes ($6), though cash and coins are accepted at each station’s electronic ticketing consoles.
Note that while DART now offers a tap-and-go service for credit cards, these consoles do not offer physical tickets as proof of purchase for DART’s transit officers—without the app, proof means showing officers a bank transaction!
To/From DFW Airport
Domestic flights at DFW generally arrive at and depart from Terminals A, B, C (American Airlines) or E (all other domestic carriers), all of which are linked by the airport’s Skylink light rail system.
Via a ride-sharing service, travel from DFW to either the Canopy or Hyatt Regency hotels takes between 30 to 35 minutes (21or 23 miles). Travel between DFW and the Oak Cliff Brewing Co. venue takes about 35 minutes (26 miles).
Via rail, attendees may board the DART’s Orange Line at Terminal A’s DFW Airport Station. From here, there is a 50-minute ride to West End Station—the first connection to the Red Line. Via the Red Line, the Cityplace/Uptown Station near the Canopy hotel is just 10 minutes north; the EBJ Union Station near the Hyatt Regency hotel is 4 minutes south; and the Tyler / Vernon Station near the workshop venue is 17minutes south.
To/From Dallas Love Field Airport
From Love Field’s single terminal, attendees can hail a ride-sharing service at the airport’s valet pavilion and Garage C, near the southeast end of the terminal. Travel to the Canopy hotel takes just 20 minutes (5 mi). Travel to the Hyatt Regency takes about 20 min as well (9 mi). Travel directly to the Oak Cliff Brewing Co. venue takes 22minutes (12 mi).
Via rail, arriving attendees may head to the far end of Ground Transportation to board DART’s Love Link (Route 5) shuttle for a free ride to Inwood/Love Field Station; a return ride to the terminal costs $2.50. From Inwood / Love FieldStation, attendees may take either the Orange or Green Lines south to West End Station (12 minutes). From West End Station via the Red Line, the Cityplace/Uptown Station near the Canopy hotel is just 10 minutes north; the EBJ Union Station near the Hyatt Regency hotel is 4 minutes south; and the Tyler / Vernon Station near theworkshop venue is 17 minutes south.
Transit Between Lodging & Venue
Throughout the workshop, those traveling via DART will use its Red Line exclusively, heading toward either its southern terminus at Westmoreland Station or its northern terminus at Parker Road Station. Trains depart from each station roughly every 15 minutes in both directions, so adding a 15 to 20-minute “transit buffer” is recommended.
The workshop’s venue—Oak Cliff Brewing Co.—makes up our southernmost location near the Tyler/Vernon Station. Dinner on Wednesday and Thursday night will take place near the Cityplace / Uptown Station, our northernmost location and the site of the Canopy hotel. Travel between Tyler / Vernon Station and Cityplace / Uptown Station via the DART’s Red Line takes ~25 minutes. Those staying at the Hyatt Regency near EBJ Union Station have a ~15-minute ride south to the venue and a ~12-minute ride north to Uptown. Travel times via ride-sharing services are similar.
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Oak Cliff Brewing Company @ Tyler Station
1300 S. Polk St., Dallas, TX 75224
DART Red Line: Tyler / Vernon Station