The second of Pete Saunders' nine reasons why Detroit failed is "poor housing stock," particularly its overweighting towards small, early postwar cottages. Here's a sample: Here's what Pete had to say: Detroit may be well-known for its so-called ruins, but much of the city is relentlessly covered with small, Cape Cod-style, 3-bedroom and one-bath single family homes on slabs that are not in keeping with contemporary standards for size and quality.....The truth, however, is that Detroit may have one of the greatest concentrations of … [Read more...]
Providence Shows the Limits of Metropolitan Governance
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...]
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...]
How Do We Measure Thriving Cities?
Josh Yates at the University of Virginia is the director of a project there called "Thriving Cities." One if the interesting things they did is put together an analysis of city indicators that people use to measure their success. They linked it to popularity, level of academic support, and other items. It's a cool project they call the Indicator Explorer. Here's a screen shot: I sat down with Josh recently and chatted with him about the project for the podcast. If the audio player doesn't display for you, click over to listen on … [Read more...]
Brief Notes on Boston Transit
I was in Boston at the end of last week for a conference and rode around on Boston transit for a bit. I'd ridden their commuter rail many times, but not much in the city besides the Silver Line bus service to the airport. I noticed that the Red and Orange Line subways both appeared to be very well patronized at rush hour, with some pretty crowded trains. A couple of stops left people unable to get on and having to wait for the next train. Even off-peak had pretty good loads. The frequencies seemed to be decent too. Curious, I went to … [Read more...]
Seven Ways Life Has Gotten Better in Rural America
Rural America is taking a beating in the news. Part of it is deserved. I grew up in rural Indiana and am shocked at some of what is going on there: severe hard drug problems, HIV outbreaks, serious crime, etc. Things are a long way from when I was a kid there in the 70s and 80s and people not only left their doors unlocked, they left their keys in the car. While I don't want to minimize the challenges facing rural America, there's a lot that has flat out gotten better since I first moved to Harrison County in first grade around … [Read more...]
What Do We Do With Shrinking Cities?
Shrinking Cities: Understanding Urban Decline in the United States By Russell Weaver, Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, Jason Knight, and Amy E. Frazier Routledge (2017) Cities like Detroit, St. Louis, and Cleveland have lost stunning percentages of their peak population since 1950. Yet these are all in metro areas whose regional populations are much higher than in 1950, even if not at their all time peak high in all of them. Some cities like Youngstown have gone so far as to try to plan for shrinkage and a permanently reduced population future. … [Read more...]
The Quest for Food Freedom
Biting the Hands That Feed Us Baylen J. Linnken Mariza Ruelas currently faces up to two years in jail in California for the crime of selling ceviche through a Facebook food group. Welcome to the mad world of American food regulation. In Biting the Hands That Feed Us, Baylen Linnekin looks closely at a system that can take pride in a historically safe food supply but that also imposes too many rules that defy common sense. Linnekin traces the system’s origins to The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s exposé of the appalling conditions in Chicago’s … [Read more...]
Ten Things You Need to Know About Indianapolis City Culture
What makes one city different from another? Some of it is the geography, the economy, or the buildings. But a big chunk of it is culture. Every city has its own culture. A journalist recently interviewed me about Indianapolis and asked about some of the things that make that city's culture distinct. I'm reposting ten of my observations here. Keep in mind that many of these points are relative, not absolute. They are comparisons versus what I see in other cities. 1. Indianapolis has a very open social structure. Many cities have very … [Read more...]
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