“Place Matters,” a weekly radio program, is being featured in The Atlantic as among one of the “best venues to tell the story” of placemaking and community engagement.

Profiling the innovating placemaking work of various cities, the program also showcases successful ideas from everyday citizens who are involved in making their communities a better place to live. In the article “Place Matters: How One Radio Show Makes the Case Every Week,” Charles Wolfe writes:

“Based on my review of several of the podcasts, Loflin’s common themes show important sensitivity to the specific context of a place, from the Detroit renaissance to technological opportunity to inventory place in Chicago, and she is most fond of a very key point: Soul of the Community findings show that Generation Y will often move to a city without guarantee of employment, if the place has draw for other reasons.”

The radio show is hosted by Dr. Katherine Loflin, the lead consultant on the Knight-funded Soul of the Community project, a groundbreaking study that explored what makes people love where the live and why it matters. Dr. Loflin helped identify a strong correlation between how citizens feel about their local community and the economic output of that community. The Atlantic article also appeared on My Urbanist, an Atlantic partner site. About hosting the program, Loflin says:

“Through the show, I wanted to raise the placemaking conversation, reflect that conversation back to the field and provide a platform to show the wide range of sectors coming to the same conclusions about the importance of place. I think I am off to a good start, but there is more to do and many more stories, ideas, research findings, and thought leaders to showcase in order to move the field forward.”

“Place Matters” airs Thursdays at 11 a.m. EST on Miami’s WZAB, 880-AM. It is also available for download as a podcast on iTunes. Knight Foundation blogged about the launch of Place Matters earlier this fall.