What a trip to Seattle and Portland taught me about commodified cities, collapsing downtowns, and why conservatives keep losing the culture they refuse to build.
I think it’s got to be significant that lots of weird / unusual / cool / quirky culture has migrated online, leaving physical storefronts for the lowest common denominator.
I’d been noticing that here in the Sun Belt, and then I saw Tyler Cowen observe it in Cologne, Germany:
“When I walk through the pedestrian zone, the stores there seem far stupider than in earlier times. They seem to reflect a lower level of intelligence from the populace and the city’s numerous visitors. One feels there is not much chance of stumbling upon something interesting or very high quality, not compared to earlier times. And I think MR readers will know I am no paragon of nostalgia per se…”
Re: trains versus cars. This is a small point to make but it's important. ALL forms of mass transportation (cars, trains, planes, etc) are heavily subsidized. Highway and road construction and maintenance is a major line item on state and local government budgets across the country; and indeed the expense, as with all infrastructure, is at its most heavily subsidized relative to economic productivity it generates in the most sparsely populated areas. It's the nature of infrastructure. I know that you didn't say otherwise, Aaron, but when you pointed out that many conservatives bristle at passenger trains and the subsidies they require while treating auto infrastructure as the most natural thing in the world, it reminded me of conversations I've had in the past on this point. Many people are unaware of just how many layers of subsidy actually exist in this country (rural electricity, roads, healthcare, mail service, rural air travel, etc).
I lived in WA (though not close to Seattle) for part of my childhood in the late 90s, and while brief, it left fond memories. For a long time I used to regularly make my way out to Seattle and environs, for business or pleasure, though it has been 10 years now. A few years ago I used to hear things from friends about junkies tying off and shooting heroin in broad daylight at Pike Place, the center of Seattle tourism, which can't be great for business. Not sure what has become of that, but the Pike Place junkies illustrated the failure of many Blue state cities, especially on the West Coast, to constrain disorder even in front of the city's most valuable real estate.
Aaron is inclined towards city life, which I can admire on one level. Indeed, certain advantages of cities will probably always be with us, but I think it's fair to say the advantages of city life are eroding as retail homogenizes and goes online, and as nightlife dies. My guess is that the average urban dweller is living more and more like a suburbanite anyway, and taking less and less advantage of the ways that city life is different. Except perhaps for walking + transit vs. driving.
Commuting, by the way, is easier than ever for the average person, thanks to the rise of podcasts plus driver assistance features. An urban dweller can, of course, walk around everywhere with Airpods, but doing this in environments where people are actively shooting heroin seems less than prudent to this fuddy-dud.
"My guess is that the average urban dweller is living more and more like a suburbanite anyway, and taking less and less advantage of the ways that city life is different."
I imagine most of them, regardless of setting, spend an awful lot of time scrolling.
What happened to Richard Florida's Creative Class? Where are those people moving? Magazines are gone, movies are disappearing, popular music has been dead for 15 years. Nobody seems to care about art galleries anymore. 24-hour diners are closing because nobody goes to bars or goes dancing.
Good analysis. I love Portland. It has a “Babylon 5” feel to it. Definitely could use some more business sense, we can’t non-profit our way out of all social ills.
One of the underrated aspects of Portland is that there is a lot of opportunity for political and social impact. I attend a decent amount of neighborhood and civic meetings, and they rarely have more than 40 people. The mayoral state of the city address last fall had maybe 70 people. There are some systemic problems that affect Christians here, but there are also a lot of opportunities.
Relative affordability when compared to other coastal cities and population size, Make Portland a solid destination for young Christians looking to have an impact IMHO.
Renn writes "Perhaps this indicates a sort of cultural exhaustion, or Douthatian decadence, on the left. If that continues, then perhaps it means the left isn’t as destined to culturally rule as I indicated above. If true, this commodification would represent an opportunity for the right to transcend the car dealer mindset and start positively reimagining the kind of country and the kinds of communities it wants to live in."
Yeah right. That is not how cities are built, nor is it why cities are built. Nobody imagines anything. It's all reactionary. Chicago exploded from about 112,000 residents in 1860 to nearly 1.7 million by 1900, a fifteen-fold increase that made it the fastest-growing major city in the world. Railroads, the stockyards, steel, and massive waves of European immigration—plus a total rebuild after the 1871 fire—drove it past Philadelphia to become America's second city by 1890.
Renn's title is spot-on, The End of the Cool City. His diagnosis is perfect; the commodification of cities. It's also global. And he is right about the revolutionary left; they have conquered a wasteland. Their revolutionary voters are so repellent, the Democrats are condemned to minority status until they purge themselves of the, 'burn it all down' crowd. Cities since ancient times were necessary for human collaboration. We are THE species when it comes to collaboration. Cities are no longer useful for collaboration. They are unnecessary. Therefore, urban culture is dying. Community commodification is indeed what is happening. The one size fits all, end of community actually.
Shenzhen went from a fishing-and-farming border town of roughly 30,000–300,000 people (depending on how you count the surrounding county) in 1980 to about 17.6 million by the 2020 census—arguably the fastest urbanization in human history. Deng Xiaoping's designation of it as China's first Special Economic Zone turned it into a magnet for migrant workers and manufacturing, and eventually the tech capital home to Huawei, Tencent, and DJI. The end of the Cool City indeed.
Cities have never been cool, but they have always been necessary - until now.
Obsolete - yes - Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America (Oxford, 2025) reviewed by Renn right here on his Substack. Cities are obsolete, but face-to-face interactions will remain until the last man gives up on his human identity. You are right, cities are not going away - but it's why cities have been commodified. It's why the heart of cities, the urban core - is dead and hollow, and reeks of death and hollowness. Urban culture is obsolete. The left hates it and wants to burn it all down. They hate their own house.
Portland is still funky and laid back, while Seattle, its economically successful sister, is full of educated, elitist, type A personalities. The Seattle culture is like the careerist/hustle of NYC combined with the outdoorsy/fitness of Denver. The ratio of men to women is also so high that it's impossible not to notice.
I think it’s got to be significant that lots of weird / unusual / cool / quirky culture has migrated online, leaving physical storefronts for the lowest common denominator.
I’d been noticing that here in the Sun Belt, and then I saw Tyler Cowen observe it in Cologne, Germany:
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/07/the-tomb-of-duns-scotus.html
“When I walk through the pedestrian zone, the stores there seem far stupider than in earlier times. They seem to reflect a lower level of intelligence from the populace and the city’s numerous visitors. One feels there is not much chance of stumbling upon something interesting or very high quality, not compared to earlier times. And I think MR readers will know I am no paragon of nostalgia per se…”
Re: trains versus cars. This is a small point to make but it's important. ALL forms of mass transportation (cars, trains, planes, etc) are heavily subsidized. Highway and road construction and maintenance is a major line item on state and local government budgets across the country; and indeed the expense, as with all infrastructure, is at its most heavily subsidized relative to economic productivity it generates in the most sparsely populated areas. It's the nature of infrastructure. I know that you didn't say otherwise, Aaron, but when you pointed out that many conservatives bristle at passenger trains and the subsidies they require while treating auto infrastructure as the most natural thing in the world, it reminded me of conversations I've had in the past on this point. Many people are unaware of just how many layers of subsidy actually exist in this country (rural electricity, roads, healthcare, mail service, rural air travel, etc).
Is subsidized the proper term here? Seems more like "socialized with some user fees."
I lived in WA (though not close to Seattle) for part of my childhood in the late 90s, and while brief, it left fond memories. For a long time I used to regularly make my way out to Seattle and environs, for business or pleasure, though it has been 10 years now. A few years ago I used to hear things from friends about junkies tying off and shooting heroin in broad daylight at Pike Place, the center of Seattle tourism, which can't be great for business. Not sure what has become of that, but the Pike Place junkies illustrated the failure of many Blue state cities, especially on the West Coast, to constrain disorder even in front of the city's most valuable real estate.
Aaron is inclined towards city life, which I can admire on one level. Indeed, certain advantages of cities will probably always be with us, but I think it's fair to say the advantages of city life are eroding as retail homogenizes and goes online, and as nightlife dies. My guess is that the average urban dweller is living more and more like a suburbanite anyway, and taking less and less advantage of the ways that city life is different. Except perhaps for walking + transit vs. driving.
Commuting, by the way, is easier than ever for the average person, thanks to the rise of podcasts plus driver assistance features. An urban dweller can, of course, walk around everywhere with Airpods, but doing this in environments where people are actively shooting heroin seems less than prudent to this fuddy-dud.
"My guess is that the average urban dweller is living more and more like a suburbanite anyway, and taking less and less advantage of the ways that city life is different."
I imagine most of them, regardless of setting, spend an awful lot of time scrolling.
Bingo.
What happened to Richard Florida's Creative Class? Where are those people moving? Magazines are gone, movies are disappearing, popular music has been dead for 15 years. Nobody seems to care about art galleries anymore. 24-hour diners are closing because nobody goes to bars or goes dancing.
Much of what defined it went mainstream.
Sad to hear Portland and Seattle have declined. I've wanted to visit them for a long time but maybe I waited too long.
Sounds like you had a great time off and I hope it won't be so many years before you take a full week again.
Good analysis. I love Portland. It has a “Babylon 5” feel to it. Definitely could use some more business sense, we can’t non-profit our way out of all social ills.
One of the underrated aspects of Portland is that there is a lot of opportunity for political and social impact. I attend a decent amount of neighborhood and civic meetings, and they rarely have more than 40 people. The mayoral state of the city address last fall had maybe 70 people. There are some systemic problems that affect Christians here, but there are also a lot of opportunities.
Relative affordability when compared to other coastal cities and population size, Make Portland a solid destination for young Christians looking to have an impact IMHO.
Renn writes "Perhaps this indicates a sort of cultural exhaustion, or Douthatian decadence, on the left. If that continues, then perhaps it means the left isn’t as destined to culturally rule as I indicated above. If true, this commodification would represent an opportunity for the right to transcend the car dealer mindset and start positively reimagining the kind of country and the kinds of communities it wants to live in."
Yeah right. That is not how cities are built, nor is it why cities are built. Nobody imagines anything. It's all reactionary. Chicago exploded from about 112,000 residents in 1860 to nearly 1.7 million by 1900, a fifteen-fold increase that made it the fastest-growing major city in the world. Railroads, the stockyards, steel, and massive waves of European immigration—plus a total rebuild after the 1871 fire—drove it past Philadelphia to become America's second city by 1890.
Renn's title is spot-on, The End of the Cool City. His diagnosis is perfect; the commodification of cities. It's also global. And he is right about the revolutionary left; they have conquered a wasteland. Their revolutionary voters are so repellent, the Democrats are condemned to minority status until they purge themselves of the, 'burn it all down' crowd. Cities since ancient times were necessary for human collaboration. We are THE species when it comes to collaboration. Cities are no longer useful for collaboration. They are unnecessary. Therefore, urban culture is dying. Community commodification is indeed what is happening. The one size fits all, end of community actually.
Shenzhen went from a fishing-and-farming border town of roughly 30,000–300,000 people (depending on how you count the surrounding county) in 1980 to about 17.6 million by the 2020 census—arguably the fastest urbanization in human history. Deng Xiaoping's designation of it as China's first Special Economic Zone turned it into a magnet for migrant workers and manufacturing, and eventually the tech capital home to Huawei, Tencent, and DJI. The end of the Cool City indeed.
Cities have never been cool, but they have always been necessary - until now.
Good points here, but I don't buy the idea cities are unnecessary. The virtual world will never make face-to-face interactions obsolete.
Obsolete - yes - Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America (Oxford, 2025) reviewed by Renn right here on his Substack. Cities are obsolete, but face-to-face interactions will remain until the last man gives up on his human identity. You are right, cities are not going away - but it's why cities have been commodified. It's why the heart of cities, the urban core - is dead and hollow, and reeks of death and hollowness. Urban culture is obsolete. The left hates it and wants to burn it all down. They hate their own house.
Thanks for visiting!
Portland is still funky and laid back, while Seattle, its economically successful sister, is full of educated, elitist, type A personalities. The Seattle culture is like the careerist/hustle of NYC combined with the outdoorsy/fitness of Denver. The ratio of men to women is also so high that it's impossible not to notice.
This one may be of interest https://x.com/aaron_renn/status/2072148540353356078