I had originally planned to position this as a day late and dollar short review of Greg Lindsay's book Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next. Yet I think in a way the title misleads. The word "aerotropolis" conjures up dull visions of depressing airport development, security lines, and power points at conferences. But what Lindsay has done with this book is really something much bigger: He has told the story of globalization as seen through the lens of the airport. Because of that, the book isn't entirely convincing. Air travel and shipping … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Dallas
Chicago’s Structural Advantages (and Professional Services 2.0)
It's no secret that Illinois, like the rest of America, has been suffering in this economy. It also has the dubious distinction of probably being in the worst fiscal shape in America. llinois Gov. Pat Quinn appointed a group called the Illinois Recovery Commission to examine the state's future, who recently issued their final report. As is mandatory in this genre of document, the commission devoted a lot of ink to creating a "culture of innovation" in Illinois and putting it in the forefront of new economy businesses. Illinois may exists as … [Read more...]
Chicago and the Epicenter
Crain's Chicago Business ran a major story assessing the Daley administration's track record in Chicago last week. The title, "Mayor Daley runs up big debts building his global city; what about the rest of Chicago?," implies a negative piece, but it has a lot of positive things to say too. The piece includes a quote from a previous major post of mine on the city, talking about how I want Chicago to be less of a generic world city, and find more of its own niche in the world. I want to expand on that notion today. Some of these thoughts are … [Read more...]
It Falls From the Sky
"When the well’s dry, then we know the value of water" - Benjamin Franklin"Whiskey’s for drinkin’; water’s for fightin’" - Western aphorism It used to be that people and policymakers in the eastern portion of the US (roughly east of the 100th meridian, which is the western boundary of the main body of Oklahoma) didn’t worry about having enough water. After all, that part of the US has abundant rainfall, mighty rivers, relatively frequent floods, and infrequent severe droughts that always end before the lakes go dry. Under such circumstances, … [Read more...]
Mega-Skepticism
[ This post inaugurates a three part series on "megaregions" and the applicability of this concept to the Midwest. It is a repeat of something I wrote on the subject a bit over a year ago. That should lay the ground work. Part two of the series will be a review of the book "Megaregions", edited by Catherine L. Ross. The third part will be some thinking on ways the Midwest might be able to apply megaregional thinking to its problems. As you will see, I come to this subject as a skeptic. This post originally ran on July 11, 2008] There … [Read more...]
Nashville: The Next Boomtown of the New South?
I traveled to Nashville for the first time in 2007, spending most of my time in the downtown area. I posted my impressions here, noting the high growth and high ambition level as well as the fantastic freeways, but also the generally unimpressive development and built environment. I did another fly-by in April of this year. I made a conscious effort to try to get out and see different areas this time around. My tour guide was an Indy native who had spent the last decade or so in the northeast. He'd moved to the city about a year previously, … [Read more...]