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Is Greater Des Moines’ fast growth slowing down?

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The next Tomorrow Plan Speaker Series guest has all the data you’d need to see that Greater Des Moines’ growth has outpaced many other cities lately, but James Chung also has this startling message: Growth may be slowing. 

Chung, a Wichita native who has a Harvard MBA, is the president of Reach Advisors, a strategy, research and predictive analytics firm. He works with cities that want to use deep data sets to improve various operations to compete better for business.

Chung has found that Greater Des Moines could break out in the war for talent much as Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and Boulder have. But to get there, the city will have to make sure it keeps growing, and there are early signs of some leveling off, he told the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The MPO says Chung will raise related questions: “Can Greater Des Moines protect its recent growth from another recession? Should future growth be slow and steady? Or does Greater Des Moines want to turbocharge its growth and seek out new frontiers to pioneer, even if new challenges emerge?”

Chung will appear Oct. 4 at the State Historical Building. A lunch and historical presentation by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and the State Historical Society of Iowa will begin at 11:30, with Chung following at noon. A question and answer session follows.

Here’s more on the speaker series.