Even before 2020, America’s great cities faced a tide that threatened to overwhelm them. In 2020, the tsunami rose suddenly, inundating the cities in ways that will prove both troubling and transformative, but which could mark the return toward a more humane, and sustainable, urbanity. The two shocks—the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring, followed by a summer punctuated by massive social unrest—have undermined persistent fantasies of an inevitable “back to the city” migration. read more »
Urban Issues
A Path to Pandemic Relief in the 'Burbs'
A shift in residential demand to suburban and exurban locations is nearly a year old in the pandemic.
It’s said to stem from households’ desire for more private space (as well as school and crime concerns), combined with greater flexibility to work from home. But public spaces are also an attribute of distance from the city center. Unlike most urban respites, parklands in the ‘burbs tend to have enough elbow room during most times of the year. read more »
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COVID-19 and the Ongoing Global Workplace Revolution
For most of the recent past, economic geography has shifted to ever-larger cities across the globe. By the end of the last decade, many were convinced that we were entering a supreme era of the glittering, high-rise “superstar” city that would inevitably swallow all the best bits of the economy, and serve as unparalleled centers of tech, culture, political activism, and global trade. read more »
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Despite Wishful Thinking, Cities Won't Come Back Without Major Reform
America’s urban leaders seem to prepare for the post-pandemic future with delusions that everything will go back to the way before the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Nothing can be more dangerous to the prospects for cities; the pandemic and recent rise in crime have created a vastly different prospect for cities, necessitating serious reconfiguration. read more »
Environmentalism is the New War on the Working Class
"There should be a real liberal party in this country, and I don't mean a crackpot professional one." – Harry Truman.
John Kerry, President Joe Biden's new climate czar, took a private jet to accept an environmental award in Iceland in 2019. read more »
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Strong Communities Need Public Spaces — and Private Enterprise
We need parks and libraries and town squares for gathering. We also need shops, restaurants, and other commercial amenities. read more »
High-Speed Rail: An Evaluation
Note: This article is adapted from the recently published Reason Foundation report Assessing the Results of the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program, by Wendell Cox read more »
New York Again Seeks a Handle Up
One aspect of New York City’s clean-up in the 1990s was the closing of many dingy Off-Track Betting parlors. Some tidier operations lived on for a few years but ultimately Gotham said good riddance to the public gambling-on-horses corporation. read more »
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Work Trips in the CSAs with the Largest CBDs
This article describes the reduction in work visits, by counties within the six combined statistical areas (CSAs), also called commuting zones, that include the nation’s six largest downtown areas (central business districts, or CBDs) by employment. CSAs are combinations of adjacent metropolitan and micropolitan areas that have strong work trip commuting connections, but not as strong as within metropolitan areas (MSAs). read more »
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Quality Of Life, Or Quantity Of Lives?
Anyone who's been in the urbanism game as long as I have (or longer) is probably familiar with the annual Places Rated Almanac, the annual metro area ranking reference produced by David Savageau. First published in 1981, I remember seeing each year's edition in bookstores while I was in high school and college, and it was the first attempt I could remember at evaluating the positives and negatives of place, and ranking them accordingly. read more »
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