Dallas Skyline. Source: WikipediaI was in Dallas this past week for the New Cities Summit, so it's a good time to post an update on the city. I don't think many of us realize the scale to which Sunbelt mega-boomtowns like Dallas have grown. The Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area is now the fourth largest in the United States with 6.8 million people, and it continues to pile on people and jobs at a fiendish clip. Many urbanists are not fans of DFW, and it's easy to understand why. But I think it's unfair to judge the quality of a city without … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Dallas
New York Needs to Think Like a Growth City Again
My latest article is now online in City Journal, and is about the need for New York to start thinking like a growth city again. It's interesting to contrast NYC with the case of Atlanta I recently wrote about. Atlanta has seen decelerating growth indicating it may be nearing maturity. New York long ago transitioned to maturity. But then the city started to experience growth once again, entering, if not its historic boom era growth, at least a much higher demand phase. But it has been unable to respond to the problem. In part I argue that comes … [Read more...]
Atlanta as a Maturing City
My latest piece is now online over at City Journal. It's a look at Atlanta, now bouncing back from a very rough 10-12 year period, but looking increasingly like a city that is maturing rather than a go-go boomtown in its hypergrowth phase. Here's an excerpt: Though still growing rapidly, Atlanta’s fortunes have taken a hit in the new century. From 1980 to 2000, metro Atlanta grew in population by an astonishing 82.3 percent, outdistancing Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston. But in the 18 years since 2000, its population growth rate was only 39.6 … [Read more...]
The Midwest’s Small Suburbs
I've been examining data lately, revisiting a topic I'm mentioned in the past, namely the smaller sizes of suburbs in Midwest cities compared to other parts of the country. This applies to much of the US east of the Mississippi as well. West of that river, there are a number of states and regions where there are large suburbs, some of them ranking among the largest municipalities in the country. For example, here are the ten largest suburbs of Dallas-Ft.Worth: Suburb Population Arlington, TX 398,112 Plano … [Read more...]
Superstar Effect Wins Again as Amazon Chooses New York, Washington for HQ2/3
Amazon, obviously embarrassed at the way their HQ2 process has been received, leaked the results of the competition the night before Election Day, ensuring coverage will be largely muted. Amazon has reportedly decided to split HQ2 between two locations, New York City (Long Island City, Queens) and Washington (Crystal City, VA). I will have more analysis over the next several days, but this shows that the superstar effect is alive and well. Amazon chose note one but two elite coastal cities for its new headquarters. There's no other way … [Read more...]
Northern Ambition: Young and Foreign in the Twin Cities Circa 1987
[ When I wrote about there being social factors other than the cold keeping people from moving to Minneapolis, Sami Karam, a Lebanese immigrant who now lives in New York City and posts insightful demographic analysis as his site Populyst, mentioned that he'd had similar experiences trying to fit in there when he lived in Minneapolis in the 1980s. I asked him if he'd write up his experience, and he graciously agreed. While this story is about 30 years old, I believe it still holds relevance today. You can also follow Sami on twitter at … [Read more...]
The Strange Case of Civic Identity in Northeast Ohio
I was recently in Akron presenting a forthcoming paper of mine. One of the interesting things about the Northeast Ohio constellation of cities is that there's a very weak sense of regional identity. In almost any other context, Cleveland and Akron would be considered some type of twin city ecosystem. Consider: Dallas and Ft. Worth are 32 miles apart. Seattle and Tacoma are 34 miles about. Cleveland and Akron are 39 miles apart. Cleveland's Cuyahoga County and Akron's Summit County are also physically contiguous. Yet, Cleveland … [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...]
Caterpillar’s HQ Move to Chicago Shows America’s Double Divide
Earlier today Caterpillar announced that it was moving its corporate headquarters from Peoria to Chicago. The move affects about 300 top-level executives. The company will retain a large presence in Peoria. This is in line with what I've written about before: the rise of the executive headquarters, where a company moves its executive suite (anywhere from 50-500 people) to a major city like Chicago while leaving the back office elsewhere. Chicago has benefitted from this more than any other city I know. In addition to many corporate HQ … [Read more...]
What Happens When There’s Nobody Left to Move to the City?
Following up on the Pew study that found many states will face declining work age populations in the future, I want to highlight a recent Atlantic article called "The Graying of Rural America." It's a profile of the small Oregon town of Fossil, which is slowly dying as the young people leave and a rump population of older people - median age 56 - begin to pass on. Like the Pew study, this one has implications that weren't fully traced out. There's a lot of urban triumphalism these days, as cities crow about Millennials wanting to live … [Read more...]