The UK has voted to leave the European Union.
The Brexit campaign was revealing because it was based on the exact opposite of the urban triumphalist vision that so often dominates the discourse. read more »
Urban IssuesVote For Brexit Explodes the Myth of the Global City-State
by Aaron M. Renn 06/26/2016
The UK has voted to leave the European Union. The Brexit campaign was revealing because it was based on the exact opposite of the urban triumphalist vision that so often dominates the discourse. read more » »
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The U.S. Cities Where Manufacturing Is Thriving
by Joel Kotkin and Michael Shires 06/21/2016
Perhaps no sector in the U.S. economy generates more angst than manufacturing. Over the past quarter century, manufacturing has hemorrhaged over 5 million jobs. The devastation of many regional economies, particularly in the Midwest, is testament to this decline. If the information sector has been the golden child of the media, manufacturing has been the offspring that we pity but can’t comfortably embrace. read more » »
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Southern California Still Best place to Get Creative
by Joel Kotkin and Charlie Stephens 06/16/2016
Over the past decade, Southern California has lagged well behind its chief rivals – New York and the Bay Area, as well as the fast-growing cities of the Sun Belt – in everything from job creation to tech growth. Yet, in what the late economist Jack Kyser dubbed “the creative industries,” this region remains an impressive superpower. By creative industries, we mean not just Hollywood’s film and television complex, which remains foundational, but those serving a host of other lifestyle-oriented activities, from fashion and product design to engineering theme parks, games and food. We may be lagging Silicon Valley in technology and New York in finance or news media, but when it comes to entertaining people, and defining lifestyle, the Southland remains a powerful, even primal, force. read more » »
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Dublin Facing Another Housing Bubble?
by Wendell Cox 06/15/2016
In a recent column in the Sunday Independent, Ireland's largest weekend newspaper, one of Ireland's leading economists, Colm McCarthy of University College (Dublin) raised the prospect another housing bubble in Dublin, Ireland's leading weekend newspaper. Dublin is the nation's capital and home to approximately 40% of the population. read more » »
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What Happens When There’s Nobody Left to Move to the City?
by Aaron M. Renn 06/13/2016
Following up on the Pew study that found many states will face declining work age populations in the future, I want to highlight a recent Atlantic article called “The Graying of Rural America.” It’s a profile of the small Oregon town of Fossil, which is slowly dying as the young people leave and a rump population of older people – median age 56 – begin to pass on. Like the Pew study, this one has implications that weren’t fully traced out. There’s a lot of urban triumphalism these days, as cities crow about Millennials wanting to live downtown and such. read more » »
Subjects:
The Evolving Urban Form: Detroit
by Wendell Cox 06/09/2016
Probably no city in the high income world evokes impressions of urban decline more than Detroit --- and for good reason. The core city of Detroit has lost more of its population than any developed world city of more than 500,000 since 1950. The city's population peaked at 1,850,000 residents in 1950 and at its decline rate since 2010 could drop below 650,000 residents by 2020 census. read more » »
The Cruel Information Economy: The U.S. Cities Winning In This Critical Sector
by Joel Kotkin and Michael Shires 06/08/2016
Arguably the most critical industry in the new economy, information is also often the cruelest. It is the ultimate disruptor of jobs and growth, blessing some regional economies but leaving most in the dust. Overall, the sector accounts for almost 3 million jobs, but it has only added a paltry net 70,000 jobs over the last five years. read more »
Subjects:
Cars or Trains: Which Will Win the Commuting Future?
by Ross Elliott 06/07/2016
Infrastructure investment is a hot topic and the focus of that discussion tends to lean towards transport infrastructure over other categories (like energy or water for example). When it comes to transport, trains seem to feature prominently on the wish lists of big investment or ‘nation building’ projects. But how far could billions of dollars in new rail infrastructure actually go in improving congestion across our cities? Will cars inevitably win? If so, why? read more »
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Luxury Urban Housing, Built on a Myth, Is About to Take a Big Hit
by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox 06/05/2016
From steamy Miami to the thriving cores of cities from New York, San Francisco, Houston and Chicago, swank towers, some of them pencil thin and all richly appointed. This surge in the luxury apartment construction has often been seen as validation of the purported massive shift of population, notably of the retired wealthy, to the inner cities. Indeed with the exception of a brief period right after the Great Recession, there was slightly greater growth in core cities than the suburbs and exurbs. It was said that we were in the midst of a massive “return to the city.” read more » »
Subjects:
Finally! Great New Affordable Bay Area Housing!
by John Sanphillippo 06/03/2016
These are highly educated well paid workers at a San Francisco tech company. They’re mostly young. Some are single. Some are newly coupled. Some are married with young children. There are exceptions, but they tend to want to live in a vibrant urban neighborhood with a short commute rather than a distant suburb. read more »
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BooksAuthored by Aaron Renn, The Urban State of Mind: Meditations on the City is the first Urbanophile e-book, featuring provocative essays on the key issues facing our cities, including innovation, talent attraction and brain drain, global soft power, sustainability, economic development, and localism. Recent popular content
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