PORTLAND (AP) – The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, is launching a study of the Maine economy that will include a blueprint on how to boost the state’s prosperity while retaining its quality of life.

The yearlong project, with a price tag of $450,000, was unveiled Monday at a City Hall news conference involving Gov. John Baldacci, former Gov. Angus King and representatives of business, conservation and foundation interests that are providing most of the study’s funding.

The event was organized by GrowSmart Maine, a nonprofit organization in Yarmouth that has focused on the economic impact of unplanned development, or sprawl.

Alan Caron, GrowSmart president, said the study seeks to determine whether Maine can grow economically without losing its essential character and whether it can compete for tomorrow’s jobs with a governmental structure fragmented into 450 cities and towns.

Brookings will analyze the state’s strengths and weaknesses and propose a series of actions to make Maine more competitive. The think tank, which describes itself as independent and nonpartisan, also will explore governmental inefficiencies that hold the state back.

Bruce Katz, the Brookings vice president who is directing the study, said that in addition to analyzing economic and demographic data, researchers will be looking at how Maine people perceive the challenges facing the economy and the possible solutions.

To that end, Brookings and GrowSmart plan a series of “listening sessions” in all of Maine’s 16 counties, with the first to be held today and Wednesday in Augusta, Bangor, Portland and Lewiston-Auburn. Katz will also be a keynoter Thursday at this year’s Smart Growth Summit in Augusta.

Brookings has conducted studies in other states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Missouri and Michigan. The Pennsylvania report, in 2003, led to “significant and ongoing change” and generated broad public dialogue on local governance reform and other recommendations, GrowSmart said.

Caron said the September 2006 target date for completion of the Maine report was timed to make it a focus of debate during the gubernatorial and legislative campaigns. GrowSmart will then work to build an alliance to help implement the plan, he said.

Baldacci and King gave their blessings to the project.

Baldacci said sprawl and other issues being addressed in the study are not subject to a single solution and that he believes the report will provide state government with important tools to assist in its work.

King, Baldacci’s predecessor as governor, agreed.

“I consider this a terribly important project, and one that will shape the future of Maine for generations, and again, it’s all about jobs,” he said.

Other speakers included Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce; Michael Tetreault, state director for The Nature Conservancy; and Hank Schmelzer, president of the Maine Community Foundation.

Those organizations represent “stakeholder groups” that are helping to raise most of the financing for the study. The state is contributing $25,000 through the State Planning Office.