Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side

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Sign up for Heartland Intelligence, my monthly research briefing on the greater American Midwest. Chicago is known as one of America's great cities for architecture. But other than the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, designed by Mies van der Rohe, very little of the architecture of the South Side is included in the public's mind when thinking about it. Lee Bey, former architecture critic of the Chicago Sun-Times and a South Side residents, aims to change this with his book Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's … [Read more...]

The Vital Midwest

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Sign up for Heartland Intelligence, my monthly newsletter on what's happening in America's midsection. John Austin at the Michigan Economic Center is a long time commentator on Midwest economic issues, going back to at least his 2006 Brookings Institute report "The Vital Center." Austin is back with a new report, which could perhaps be seen as an update of sorts, called "A Vital Midwest: The Path to a New Prosperity," released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In a region with a lot of naysayers, Austin has been a consistently … [Read more...]

Scaling Superstar Cities

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My latest Manhattan Institute report is now available. It's called "Scaling Up: How Superstar Cities Can Grow to New Heights" and it examines the well-known problem of housing costs in coastal superstar cities. I argue that some of these cities simply forgot how to grow during the decades during which they suffered from external constraints (the Depression, World War II), followed by decades of decline. (Even the city of San Francisco lost population for three straight decades). I also explain why the average resident of these cities does … [Read more...]

Heartland Intelligence

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There have been some big changes for me. We relocated from New York to Indianapolis, where I'm doing consulting work for the Indy Chamber. I'm no longer full time with the Manhattan Institute but am still a contributing editor at City Journal and still have multiple projects in the works there. I'll continue to write for other publications too, as with my recent Atlantic piece on J. Irwin Miller and Columbus, Indiana. More on my move below. For several years I've published a monthly newsletters on cities that was mostly a roundup of the … [Read more...]

More on Columbus, Indiana

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I want to share a few additional thoughts on Columbus, looking at the question of whether things really could have been different in the Rust Belt with different policies. I believe the answer is Yes, with caveats. First, it's undeniable, as I've written many times before, that macroeconomic change drove much of the Rust Belt collapse. Rust Belt challenges spanned many different states, red vs. blue political environments, etc. It's also true that the Columbus model may not have been applicable or worked in the same way elsewhere, … [Read more...]

“Is It Too Late for a Man of Honesty, High Purpose, and Intelligence to Be Elected President of the US in 1968?”

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After putting up my post linking to my Atlantic piece on J. Irwin Miller and Columbus, Indiana, I discovered that the Esquire cover story I mentioned is actually online. It's great reading, and I highly recommend it. Keep in mind, Esquire was an important magazine back then. Here are some excerpts: "Wouldn't Irwin Miller be great?" exclaimed the Mayor [John Lindsay], a smile breaking across his face like a wave. "He's one of the great people of this world. He's got insight, humor, wisdom, saltiness. How could we get him to run?" Up to that … [Read more...]

The Rust Belt Didn’t Have to Happen

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I knew a number of things about J. Irwin Miller, the former Cummins Engine CEO who financed Columbus, Indiana's world-renowned collection of modernist architectural masterpieces.  But when I read Nancy's Kriplen's recent short biography of him, I learned a lot I'd never suspected. Clearly one of the most distinguished Hoosiers of all time, among other things, Esquire magazine put him on its cover in 1967 saying that he should be the next President of the United States.  That was a pipe dream, of course. Even had Nixon not been the Republican … [Read more...]

Interesting Recent Studies

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There are a few recent studies that caught my eye. The first is an interesting paper from Brookings that is a proposal for an Enrico Moretti-style "big push" approach to boost innovation sector jobs in cities outside the superstars. It's called "The case for growth centers: How to spread tech innovation across America." The authors make the point that innovation jobs have been concentrating in America. They observe: Most notably, just five top innovation metro areas—Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and San Diego—accounted for … [Read more...]