Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Press
  • Archives
    • By Date
    • By City
    • Podcasts
    • Reviews
    • Articles in Governing Magazine
    • Articles in the Guardian
    • Articles in City Journal
    • Articles in New Geography
  • Get Posts by RSS
  • Podcast

Archives for June 2011

Picture-Perfect Portland?

June 30, 2011 By Aaron M. Renn

Portland is one of the most-praised cities in contemporary America. But is the hype real? To some extent, it actually understates the case. Portland didn't invent bicycles, density or light rail -- but it understood the future implications of them for America's smaller cities first, and put that knowledge to use before anyone else. The longest journey begins with a step, but you have to take it. Nobody else did. In an era where most American cities went one direction, Portland went another, either capturing or even creating the zeitgeist of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development, Planning, Transport, and Environment, Portland, Urban Culture

Employment Challenges Facing Smaller City Downtowns

June 26, 2011 By Aaron M. Renn

I recently wrote about the return of jobs to downtown in large tier one cities like Chicago. There are a number of factors driving this: the rise of the "global city", the locational advantage of downtown for commuters, the significant rise in central city residency for professionals, etc. This has enabled the central cores of cities like New York to remain extremely strong even if in some sense they are losing job share to the suburbs or even outright losing jobs (as in Chicago). Smaller cities, which I define as anyone below those tier one … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development

Resolving the Paradox of Success

June 19, 2011 By Aaron M. Renn

In a previous posting on innovation, I talked about how coming up with innovative new ideas is surprisingly easy. It is actually trying to do them that is hard. I pointed out many of the structural barriers to this, most of which lie in the realm of organizational dynamics. One of the problems is what I call the “paradox of success”. That is, it is harder for someone, be it an individual or company, to do something new and different to the extent that what they are currently doing is already successful. This actually seems, like the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development

Get my eBook The Urban State of Mind for your Kindle from Amazon.

About Aaron M. Renn


 
Aaron M. Renn is an opinion-leading urban analyst, consultant, speaker, and writer on a mission to help America’s cities and people thrive and find real success in the 21st century. (Photo Credit: Daniel Axler)
 
Email: aaron@aaronrenn.com
Full Bio

Trending Posts

  • Nine Reasons Why Detroit Failed
  • Ten Things You Need to Know About Indianapolis City Culture
  • The Growing Public Safety Inequality Gap in Chicago
  • New England vs. Midwest Culture
  • Design Minded in Indianapolis

Disclosures

Links on this site may contain embedded “affiliate codes.” Purchases made through these links may result in a payment to me.
 
Header design by Carl Wohlt.
Header images via Shutterstock.

Copyright © 2006-2020 Urbanophile, LLC, All Rights Reserved - Click here for copyright information and disclosures