Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

Buffalo, You Are Not Alone

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It hurts. When a bigtime Harvard economist writes off your city as a loss, and says America should turn its back on you, it hurts. But Ed Glaeser's dart tossing is but the smallest taste of what it's like to live in place like Buffalo. To choose to live in the Rust Belt is to commit to enduring a continuous stream of bad press and mockery. I write mostly about the Midwest, but whether we think Midwest or Rust Belt or something else altogether, the story is the same. From Detroit to Cleveland, Buffalo to Birmingham, there are cities across … [Read more...]

Civic Iconography Done Right – Chicago’s City Flag

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I've written on a number of occasions on why cities should look to strengthen their visual identity and distinctive character using civic icons or images that can provide a powerful graphical or design representation of the city. For example, I wrote about I wrote about how London's use of its civic icons - it's red buses, black cabs, bobby uniforms, phone booths, and tube logo - had assumed an almost totemistic stature there. In the United States, I'd have to rate Chicago far and away #1 in the use of official civic symbols (maybe the best … [Read more...]

What Kodak’s Failure Might Teach Detroit About Success

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Last month Kodak declared bankruptcy, and this month it quit selling cameras, something it has been doing since 1900. Did Kodak fail because it did not move from film to digital faster, or because it did not stick to what it knew best, laminating film? A close look tells us something about how other places with deep knowledge and fascination with a given science or technology might find new success in global business. What Business Are You In? The Economist titled its article on Kodak’s bankruptcy “Gone In A Flash”, but watching Kodak go … [Read more...]

Nine Reasons Why Detroit Failed

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My hometown of Detroit has been studied obsessively for years by writers and researchers of all types to gain insight into the Motor City’s decline. Indeed, it seems to have become a favorite pastime for urbanists of all stripes. How could such an economic powerhouse, a uniquely American city, so utterly collapse? Most analysis tends to focus on the economic, social and political reasons for the downfall. One of my favorite treatises on Detroit is The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Thomas Sugrue, who argues that housing and racial … [Read more...]

Facing Tough Facts in Louisville

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Some of you know that I'm originally from Louisville, Kentucky. I grew up in rural Southern Indiana just across the river (inside the Louisville MSA), but also had family in the South End and spent a lot of time as a kid stomping around the neighborhoods near Iroquois Park. I love Louisville and it will always have a special place in my heart. I don't write about it much these days because as the blog has progressed, I've been forced to trim back my reading of local news sites and Louisville web pages were on the cut list. So I'm not as plugged … [Read more...]

From Naptown to Super City

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I have long touted the sports strategy that Indianapolis used to revitalize its downtown as a model for cities to follow in terms of strategy led economic and community development. I really think it sets the benchmark in terms of how to do it, and it has been very successful. Indy is hosting the Super Bowl on Sunday, something that is locally seen as a sort of crowning achievement of the 40 year sports journey. As part of that, the Indianapolis Star and public TV station WFYI produced an hour long documentary on the journey called "Naptown … [Read more...]

The Software of Placemaking

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Using the tech metaphors so common now, we have tended to focus on the “hardware” of place, the land, bricks and mortar. But maybe it is time to think more in terms of the “software”, of how we program and run places day to day. There are two masters who have done this with real estate, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast, and they have both been at this with single properties for more than 20 years. One is Dan Biederman of the Bryant Park Corporation, who has made that Midtown Manhattan space one of the world’s most densely used … [Read more...]

The Case for Quality of Space

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Last November I was privileged to be able to speak at a community conversation event in Franklin, Indiana - a town of about 25,000 people south of Indianapolis that is an old county seat on the edge of suburban expansion - sponsored by Indiana Humanities and Ball State University's Bowen Center for Public Affairs. The topic of the evening was quality of space and what, if anything, Franklin should do in this area. There had recently been some big disputes over downtown redevelopment projects I believe. I gave a talk that set the stage for … [Read more...]

Indiana’s Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 4 – A Better Plan

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In the first three parts of this series, I discussed how Indiana so badly botched its negotiation with Kentucky on the Louisville bridges project that its share of the project went up by $200 million at the same time the total project declined in cost by $1.5 billion, how this will result in $432 million being drained out of regular highway funds to cover a resulting tolling gap, how tolling likely results in Indiana paying even more, and the significant risks Indiana has taken on by agreeing to build a tunnel in Kentucky. Amazing as it sounds, … [Read more...]

Indiana’s Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 3 – INDOT’s Mini-Big Dig

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In previous installments in this series I highlighted how Indiana managed to increase its share of the Louisville bridges project by $200 million even as it bragged that the total price tag had gone down by $1.5 billion, how this led directly to Indiana having to allocate $432 million in regular highway funds to the project, and how tolling puts Indiana at significant risk of paying an even greater share of the project. Today I'll highlight how Indiana is stepping into a potential quagmire by agreeing to take responsibility for building a … [Read more...]