Jonathan D. Miller

Maybe if the need for infrastructure funding were represented differently, maybe if it were repackaged and rebranded, maybe then the political case would gain greater traction. Infrastructure—roads, dams, waterlines, sewers—are necessary, but boring and we have come to accept they are free, part of the banal background to our lives that will just be provided somehow.

It hasn’t worked to plead that our various transport and public works systems are falling apart, now closer to Third World than 21st Century, threatening the nation’s productivity and future economic growth. Eyes glaze over at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ grade D ratings for the country’s various infrastructure systems and the $2 trillion or $3 trillion or is it $4 trillion price tag to fix them. Whatever. Dams aren’t failing yet, the last bridge to collapse was several years ago, sewage waste only shows up on my beach once in a while. What’s the crisis?

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Jonathan D. Miller

A marketing communication strategist who turned to real estate analysis, Jonathan D. Miller is a foremost interpreter of 21st citistate futures – cities and suburbs alike – seen through the lens of lifestyles and market realities. For more than 20 years (1992-2013), Miller authored Emerging Trends in Real Estate, the leading commercial real estate industry outlook report, published annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He has lectures frequently on trends in real estate, including the future of America's major 24-hour urban centers and sprawling suburbs. He also has been author of ULI’s annual forecasts on infrastructure and its What’s Next? series of forecasts. On a weekly basis, he writes the Trendczar blog for GlobeStreet.com, the real estate news website. Outside his published forecasting work, Miller is a prominent communications/institutional investor-marketing strategist and partner in Miller Ryan LLC, helping corporate clients develop and execute branding and communications programs. He led the re-branding of GMAC Commercial Mortgage to Capmark Financial Group Inc. and he was part of the management team that helped build Equitable Real Estate Investment Management, Inc. (subsequently Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, Inc.) into the leading real estate advisor to pension funds and other real institutional investors. He joined the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S. in 1981, moving to Equitable Real Estate in 1984 as head of Corporate/Marketing Communications. In the 1980's he managed relations for several of the country's most prominent real estate developments including New York's Trump Tower and the Equitable Center. Earlier in his career, Miller was a reporter for Gannett Newspapers. He is a member of the Citistates Group and a board member of NYC Outward Bound Schools and the Center for Employment Opportunities.

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