This is the first in a monthly series that will aggregate top news from around our network and profile what’s next for cities.

Pittsburgh gets a new ride

Pop City’s new editor, Erin Keane Scott, spent a little time tooling around PGH in a Lyft car – the popular app-based ridesharing site has just entered the Pittsburgh market.

It’s no secret that ridesharing is becoming increasingly popular in many cities, stirring up protests from cab companies and the like. Fast-growing startups like Lyft and Uber are also making it easier for urbanites to live car-free. Yet what’s perhaps less well-known is that ridesharing advocates hope to build community as part of the sharing economy.

The Lyft cars, affixed with pink mustaches on their grilles, are a click away. You can pick your own music, charge your phone and even put on a fun costume for a quick selfie.

“We’re really trying to create an in-person experience,” Paige Thelen, a spokesperson for Lyft, told Scott. “[We’re] trying to bring online experiences offline; trying to build friendships and connect people; and build a community based on transportation. Our goal from the start has been to connect people and create a unique experience in-car.”

In other Pop City news, the Steel City is emerging as a great place for young people to start companies, says Marty Levine in his feature, Young, Ambitious and In Pittsburgh.

Sister publication Keystone Edge also laid out some great places to visit in Pennsylvania, including many off-the-beaten-path gems, in a best-read feature.

In Denver, beer means change

As many as 25 new breweries are in the planning stages in Denver, although given how tough this business is, some won’t ever open their doors. This month Confluence took a look at how brewery development is driving neighborhood change in South Denver – an area that, unlike some of its neighbors, never had much of a beer scene.

“That’s meaningful, because in this city, where there’s beer, there’s change,” writes Eric Peterson, Managing Editor of Confluence.

From a bar made with airplane wings at Former Future Brewing Company to the collaborative brewing model at Grandma’s House – essentially, brewers can rent the company’s seven-barrel system and sell the resulting draft beer in the taproom – these breweries are the latest to tap into the seemingly insatiable appetite for good craft beer.

According to the Brewers Association, the number of craft brewers in the U.S. is back to 1880s levels – after a long decline that started during Prohibition and started to change in the 1980s. For cities, that means more innovation and job creation. It also means more neighborhood revitalization as breweries set up shop and become anchors.

Tampa’s next hot neighborhood

Hot is a relative term in Tampa, we know. 83 Degrees recently ran a piece about the city’s next hot neighborhood: North Hyde Park, a mixed-use area close to downtown.

As young people, empty nesters and young families migrate to cities, neighborhoods off the beaten path are seeing the spillover effect. Urban planners and developers are stitching disparate parts of the city together into a cohesive fabric. North Hyde Park sits in the redevelopment crosshairs because of its pivotal location and available land.

"People are looking to move back to the urban core," says local developer Anthony Everett. "I think you'll see continued growth."

As downtown Tampa fills up with new housing and rsidents and the University of Tampa and Tampa General Hospital grow, development is making its way to North Hyde Park. The area is being targeted as a future “Meds and Eds” district, says 83 Degrees – these growing sectors are another source of innovation that’s helping drive change in cities.

Philly’s industrial hoods reinvent themselves

Philadelphia’s manufacturing history helped it earn the moniker ‘Workshop of the World.’ Yet now formerly industrial neighborhoods are reinventing themselves as livable mixed-use districts.

According to Dan Eldridge’s Flying Kite feature, Washington Avenue West is poised to become such a neighborhood. Change may be slow in coming, but it’s on its way, and now planners are trying to strike a balance without pushing out too many businesses.  

Whereas many up-and-coming neighborhoods struggle to attract amenities like grocery stores, Washington Avenue West has tons of commercial retail. You can find a plant nursery, bowling alley, artisanal pizzeria and martial arts studio on the same block.

“Every community needs a hub,” says fourth-generation resident Tom Donatucci.

Washington Avenue West will certainly lose some of its industrial tenants as it is redeveloped – but could gain others as a unique residential-commercial district. The question is, how can you redevelop it without sacrificing all that industrial history?

Newcomers find surprises in Detroit, Cincy

Soapbox Cincinnati publisher Dacia Snider moved to the city 15 years ago for an internship – and hated it. She soon vowed she’d never return.

Then she came back to Cincinnati for a job offer after college and was exposed to its neighborhoods – and people. This time the Queen City won her over.

“Now this was a city where you could make a difference,” writes Snider in her essay, How Cincinnati Stole My Heart, touching on the city’s challenges and the role Soapbox has played in exploring those obstacles and celebrating what makes Cincinnati great.  

Detroit, too, is attracting not only young people – but also empty nesters.

Tom Albrecht, an experienced professional who is now Sales Director for the new Cobo Center, moved to the D from Manhattan and loves it. In Urban Dwellers: Detroit attracting city lovers with an adventurous spirit, Dennis Archambault profiles three empty nesters who have moved to Detroit and found a satisfying life there.

“Young people are coming to the city because they view it as a place of great opportunity at low cost, compared with other urban centers,” says Albrecht.