Giving Compass' Take:

• Fast Company explores the changing dynamics within the U.S. labor force, and argues that cities should consider infrastructure that supports startups and independent workers, not try to bend over backwards for Amazon.

• How will the so-called "gig" economy affect the way nonprofits operate? Will we have to change the way we approach workforce training and higher education initiatives?

• If you're wondering how artificial intelligence and other tech fits into the picture, read this.

Last year, 238 cities across North America submitted themselves to Amazon as the hopeful site of its next headquarters, spurred by the promise of 50,000 high-paying jobs and $5 billion in investment. In January, the tech giant narrowed that pool down to 20.

Amid some of the weird stunts designed to entice the company — Stonecrest, Georgia offered to change its name to Amazon, Georgia, and Calgary, Alberta tweeted that it would fight a bear for HQ2 — the cities that submitted had to do some real soul-searching to decide if they were worthy to appeal to Amazon.

What Amazon wanted from a potential HQ2 host city was the following: a metro-area population of over 1 million people, a stable business environment, proximity to major highways and arterial roads, and access to mass transit and an airport.

The breathless bidding war that is the HQ2 search has masked the fact that these are really not exceptional demands. In fact, most of these criteria are things cities should striving to meet not for the sake of attracting some outside company, but to better support their existing workforce, and draw smaller, more diverse companies and sectors that may not have the flashy appeal of Amazon, but could equal it in impact.

Read the full article about why cities should prepare for the growing freelance workforce by Eillie Anzilotti at fastcompany.com.