In 1987, Neal Peirce and a team of journalists produced a deep-dive series of articles on the civic, economic, and social strengths and weaknesses of the Greater Phoenix area. These articles — known as the “Peirce Report” — ran in The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette in February of 1987, and generated a robust local debate about how to make the Phoenix region work better. It was the first of more than two dozen Peirce Reports that Neal and his colleagues would go on to write in cities across the United States.
In 2025, the Neal Peirce Foundation partnered with Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL) and the Center for the Future of Arizona on an update. As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, GPL, a business group, wanted to look back at the 1987 Peirce Report and ask a few questions. What’s changed since then? Where is the region now? And what are the big challenges and opportunities for Greater Phoenix in the future?
The result is this report, written by William Fulton and Christopher Swope, journalists who are experts in city leadership and growth, as well as board members with the Neal Peirce Found* ation. You can read their articles here. [LINK TO REPORT WHEN LIVE.]
1987 Peirce Report
To learn more about the original 1987 Peirce Report on Greater Phoenix, see the following resources:
- Download a scan of the original Peirce Report as it appeared in The Phoenix Gazette.
- Read a plain-text version of the main findings.
- Watch a 1987 interview with Neal Peirce on Horizon, the local PBS station’s public-affairs program.