Regionalism and metropolitan government are urban planning orthodoxy. The idea is that we need to have region-wide planning to meet the actual regional needs, which transcend boundaries. And also to have an equitable financing structure. So entities like Portland's Metro (a directly elected layer of regional government on the Oregon side of that metro area) and the Twin Cities' Metropolitan Council and region-wide tax sharing system are lauded. Because these regions have been fairly successful and seem to function well, their regional … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2017
The Landscape of Global Urbanization
I gave a lecture recently in New York on urbanization and global cities. I'm sharing a couple of segments of that as podcasts. The first is a short introduction to global urbanization. I talk about the radical rural-urban shift in human living patterns, the increase in city size (especially the growth of megacities), and the challenges arising from urban growth in the developing world. This podcast is a good basic introduction to the topic that will be very helpful for anyone to get an understanding of the basics. Some of the stats on … [Read more...]
The Great Non-Profit Die Off
Marc Lapides wrote an op-ed in Crain's Chicago Business calling for an 1871 accelerator for creating new non-profits. Most cities could actually use the opposite. What they need is an infrastructure for euthanizing non-profits that are past their expiration date. When I look around older cities, I frequently see that they've got a veritable armada of non-profits. Rarely do I see these making a huge difference in the trajectory of the city. The usual complaint about too many non-profits is that they aren't coordinated, and so often … [Read more...]