"The long-term utility of the megaregion as a distinct planning scale is still unproven. Does the megaregional approach confront or evade the core planning issues of equity, democracy, livability, economic vitality, and design excellence? If Jane Jacobs old quip about a region being 'an area safely larger than the last one to whose problems we found no solution' remains cogent, then the current interest in megaregions represents either a logical territorial scaling up to match the rapid expansion of regions, or another attempt by stalwart … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2012
What Exactly Does an Infrastructure Bank Do For Us Anyway?
Infrastructure banks are back in the news thanks to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan for his billion plus dollar Chicago Infrastructure Trust. This trust would leverage private funds to finance infrastructure improvements in his city. I'm not taking a position on whether or not it is a good idea or a bad one. Partially that's because I can't figure out exactly what it is or what its actual value delivered is. This has nothing to do with Rahm's proposal per se. I was equally confused back when President Obama proposed his National … [Read more...]
Nashville Rolls On
I have a friend in Nashville and try to get there about once a year for a visit. He knows my insatiable desire for urban exploration, so tries to take me around to new places each time, which is awesome. A couple of my previous trips were documented in the posts "Impressions of Nashville" (from 2007) and "Nashville: Next Boomtown of the New South" (from 2008). As with previous visits, I want to highlight a few observations I had. The first is, "What Great Recession?" Yes, Nashville surely suffered from this, and there's a notable absence of … [Read more...]
“James Drain” Hits Cleveland
The ten story of mural of LeBron James is coming down in Cleveland. This one hurts. James wasn't just the latest embodiment of Cleveland's hopes, he was a local kid who, unlike so many, had stayed home in Northeast Ohio. His joining of the Cleveland exodus at a time of severe economic distress prompted Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to pen a now infamous open letter to fans: As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.....The good news is that the ownership team … [Read more...]
Hoosiers to Pay 80% of Local Tolls for Ohio River Bridges Project
Update 4/6: The organization behind the polls has put up a web site with raw data and more findings from their scientific survey. Update 4/6: Later reports with more specific data from this poll show that the actual ratio is 74% of the local traffic is Hoosiers, not 80% - still a stunning ratio. The pollster estimates a slightly lower ratio of toll revenue to Indiana - 70%, though it's not clear how they did this math. And finally it looks like Southern Indiana officials are waking up to the fact that they are going to get pimped on this … [Read more...]
More Thoughts on the Urban Hierarchy
Few topics get the urbanist blood stirring like the perennial debate over ranking cities. My latest piece on the reordering of the urban hierarchy spawned yet another rekindling of that debate. Among those weighting in were Richard Florida at the Atlantic Cities (whose ideas shaped my original post), Kenan Fikri of the Brookings Institution over at the New Republic and Jim Russell at Burgh Diaspora. There is also a lively comment thread here at the Urbanophile. I wanted to respond to some of the points raised. The first is the idea that … [Read more...]