Lisa Gansky describes herself, somewhat improbably, as “a monkey with one trick”: starting companies. Gansky has made a career of spotting potential trends, then molding those ideas into wildly successful business enterprises. And while Gansky herself has thrived in the current economic system—Ofoto, a mobile photo-sharing company she cofounded in 1999 and then sold to Kodak two years later for somwhere under $100 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, is just one example—her latest venture involves upending that system. In Gansky’s view, a new economic paradigm is emerging with the potential to recast the way we think of buying, selling and creating wealth. She calls it the Mesh, and its premise is as simple as a kindergarten aphorism: We all need to learn to share.

On July 12, 2011, Lynn Degenhart resigned from his post as a member of the New Mexico Passenger Transportation Association board with a message titled “Ethical Concern.”

Who doesn’t make bad choices, whether it’s choosing the brownie for breakfast instead of the banana or picking the life partner who lasts much less than a lifetime?

It’s late afternoon in March, and spring is blooming. Roughly 50 of Santa Fe’s movers and shakers are gathered in a small building that resembles a slick, revamped old church, with bright white walls culminating into a triangular point in the center of the ceiling. Creative Santa Fe, the arts and culture nonprofit whose broad mission is to improve the city’s “creative economy,” is announcing a new direction after seven years of inaction, mostly on the city’s dime.

The plan: The problem, Jacobs says, is multifaceted. To make Santa Fe more accessible to tech start-ups, affordable workspaces—such as the Lena Street Lofts—need to be created or professionals need alternative means of exchange; workers need the time and opportunities to throw ideas around; and the technology infrastructure needs to be improved.

I have been studying cities with a group of colleagues for some time, including what makes them more or less successful. Our research shows, among other things, that a city’s success is often predicated on good infrastructure that connects city dwellers not only to the outside world, but also to their neighbors and institutions within the city, especially those that promote new ideas with economic applications.

The plan: Stop tinkering with an outdated school model, and start talking about types of learning that will help Santa Fe thrive today.

Standing behind a coffee-decorated cart situated in Concrete Jungle’s front patio, a scarf-clad Phil Santos prepares espresso, condensed milk and soda for a concoction he invented, called “Hola Cola.”

The plan: “Ignite the entrepreneurial ecosystem” by creating a pilot program to assist selected “entrepreneurial fellows.”

The plan: Dominguez’ plan for boosting the economy is based on diversification, promoting and encouraging other enterprises that generate gross receipts taxes from sources that don’t depend on tourism.