A recent article called "I've Been Priced Out of Downtown Detroit" shows us an interesting microcosm of the urban housing problem. Per the piece: Five-year resident Andrew Kopietz moved out of his one-bedroom in the downtown Lafayette Park neighborhood late last year after his rent was hiked to $1,100 from $840 a month. "I work downtown and have never loved living somewhere as much as I do here," said Kopietz, a design director for D:Hive, which provides information about living in Detroit. But, "it seemed unfair to be forced to pay … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2014
The Urbanophile Interview: Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman
I was in Columbus last week, and while I was there I was able to sit down for an hour long conversation with Mayor Michael Coleman. We talked about Columbus' economic out-performance relative to the rest of Ohio, its secret sauce as a city, how it can gain better brand recognition in the market, Rust Belt self-disparagement, the city's bicentennial, the role of Ohio State, and whether the city needs to develop a signature claim to fame - plus more as well. If the audio player below doesn't display, click over to listen on Soundcloud. For … [Read more...]
Checking In On Columbus
Fountain in a park, Victorian Village, Columbus, Ohio.I was in Columbus, Ohio for a couple days last week. I hadn't been there since my late 2010 Columbus Metropolitan Club presentation, and so it was good to get to check in and see how they were doing. I once called Columbus "the new Midwestern star," noting that they were one of those Midwest cities that's doing far better than the region's reputation would suggest. It's been growing at a reasonably rapid clip in both population and jobs, beating the US average significantly, though not … [Read more...]
When Sprawl Hits the Wall
I've long argued that the real reason sprawl, or suburban development as we've been practicing it, is a problem isn't because it's ugly, environmentally damaging, racist, or some other form of evil. The more fundamental problem is that it's a long term financial loser. The numbers just don't add up over the long term when you take a lifecycle view of it. As I outlined in "The Power of Greenfield Economics" and elsewhere, new suburbs look attractive for a number of transitory reasons: everything is new, state of the art, and exactly in line … [Read more...]
Know Your Marketplace Leverage
I've noticed so often that urbanist policy suggestions or case studies are treated as universals. That is, with a presumption that a good idea or policy can be replicated pretty much anywhere. Clearly, there are a number of items like bike lanes and trails that would appear to be widely applicable, and for which the best practice standards would appear to work without much modification in most places. On the other hand, this isn't true of everything. Where do most urban progressive policy ideas come from? From what I've seen, these tend to … [Read more...]
Is Something Wrong With Chicago’s Suburbs?
I previously talked about Connecticut becoming a suburban corporate wasteland as well as the rise of the executive headquarters in major global city downtowns. What we see is that high end functions have shown anecdotal signs of re-centralizing, while the more bread and butter - though still often well-paying - jobs are heading to less expensive suburban locales in places like Austin, Charlotte, and Salt Lake City. These leaves expensive and business hostile suburbs around global cities, like most of those in Connecticut, in a tough … [Read more...]
Why States Matter
This post originally ran on July 18, 2011. Sunday I reposted a piece asking whether or not states are an anachronism. Today I'm reposting my original counterpoint piece that looks at areas where states play a role and do seem to legitimately represent communities of interest. Note that I replaced the Common Census maps with a Facebook Like map and updated the migration maps. There are a lot of reasons why, despite their obvious flaws, states continue to play a crucial role in our nation. The first is that in a huge, multi-regional, … [Read more...]
Are States an Anachronism?
This post originally appeared on July 11, 2011. Obviously states aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but a number of folks have suggested that state's aren't just obsolete, they are downright pernicious in their effects on local economies. One principal exponent of this point of view is Richard Longworth, who has written about it extensively in his book "Caught in the Middle" and elsewhere. Here's what he has to say on the topic: In the global era, states are simply too weak and too divided to provide for the welfare of their … [Read more...]