Aaron M. Renn

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A Blast from the Past in Charlotte and Columbus

August 15, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

I saw a couple of recent reposts containing very interesting material from several decades ago in Charlotte and Columbus. The first is a 25 minute TV special from the 1960s looking at a proposal to issue bonds to fund urban renewal in downtown Charlotte. A few things struck me about this. The first is that despite the video being labeled "Uptown Do or Die" by the local organization that posted it, Charlotte's central business district is consistently referred to in the video as "downtown" not "uptown" as people do today. It's interesting to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Charlotte, Columbus (Ohio), Urban Culture

We Need More Family Friendly Cities

July 25, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

My latest piece is now online at the Institute for Family Studies. It's a look at what it would take to make more family friendly cities. Here is an excerpt: In January, Malaysia Goodson was killed when she fell down the stairs at New York’s 7th Avenue subway station while carrying a stroller with her one-year-old daughter in it.  The baby girl survived but now faces life without her mother. The 7th Avenue station is one of many in the city without elevators. Only about a quarter of New York City subway stations have elevators. This not … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development

New York Needs to Think Like a Growth City Again

July 16, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

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...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development, New York, Planning, Transport, and Environment

Atlanta as a Maturing City

July 8, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

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...]

Filed Under: Atlanta, Demographics and Economic Development, Planning, Transport, and Environment

Population Shifting in the Midwest

July 2, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

My latest post is online at City Journal. I actually wrote it prior to the Indy op-ed I just put up, but for scheduling reasons they came out in the reverse order. This contains some of the background information against which that op-ed was written. It's about the resorting of population that's occurring within US states in the Midwest. Here's an excerpt: America’s transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy resulted in a spatial shift in population, from rural to urban. As the economy continues to adapt from industrial to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development

High Performing Midwest Cities Need to Learn How to Attract National Talent

June 28, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

My latest column is online in the Indianapolis Business Journal. Obviously it's about Indianapolis, but similar arguments apply to basically every other basically well-performing Midwest city. They are completely parochial talent sheds and need to attract from further afield.  Here's an excerpt: Nashville won 5,000 Amazon jobs despite being smaller and having fewer tech jobs than Indianapolis. One reason is that Nashville draws people from all over the country, while Indianapolis overwhelmingly draws from just Indiana. Metro Indy actually … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development, Indianapolis

Indianapolis Bus Rapid Transit

June 26, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

I was on vacation back in Indiana last week, so what else would I do but arrange to take a ride on Indy's under construction BRT system? I had a positive impression of it and am planning to write up a longer piece about the system and the role of BRT in low-density cities generally.  In the meantime, here's a podcast I recorded about the project with Jerome Horne from the city's transit agency. If the audio player doesn't display for you, click over to listen on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Indianapolis, Urban Culture

St. Louis Blues

June 24, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

My latest article is online in City Journal and is a look at the most recent failed attempt to merge St. Louis city and St. Louis county governments in light of the backdrop of civic challenges there. Here's an excerpt: Better Together, a drive to consolidate the governments of St. Louis County and its towns with the city of St. Louis, was over almost before it started. Following political blowback and the indictment of the St. Louis County executive who would have run the merged government, backers withdrew the proposal. But the problems that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Aaron M. Renn

The Midwest’s Small Suburbs

June 12, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

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...]

Filed Under: Demographics and Economic Development

Reinventing City Procurement

May 22, 2019 By Aaron M. Renn

Procurement in any context sounds dull and has the reputation of being a painful task you are forced to go through in order to buy something you need. Sascha Haselmayer of CityMart believes there's a different way. He joins me on the podcast to talk about cities using procurement as a problem solving process and engine of government transformation, including radically improving supplier diversity. If the audio player doesn't display for you, click over to listen on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Governance and Public Services

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About Aaron M. Renn


 
Aaron M. Renn is an opinion-leading urban analyst, consultant, speaker, and writer on a mission to help America’s cities and people thrive and find real success in the 21st century. (Photo Credit: Daniel Axler)
 
Email: aaron@aaronrenn.com
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