Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

When the Snow Comes Down, New Yorkers Come Out to Play

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Much of the eastern US is getting slammed with a blizzard today. But in New York, snow coming down is just yet another reason to get out of the apartment and go play in the park. I went out around 3:00 today and recorded two Periscope videos that you can check out if you want. The first of them is of the cityscape starting at 68th and Columbus, walking south along Columbus and Broadway to Columbus Circle, then into Central Park. The second is a shorter look at people out and about on 72nd St. in Central Park.   I had so much fun I was … [Read more...]

Mayor Byron Brown on Buffalo’s “Green Code”, Architecture, Economy, and More

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I was privileged to get to record a podcast with Mayor Byron Brown while researching my article on Buffalo for City Journal this spring. Coming after a very tough 2007 Ed Glaeser article in City Journal on the city, it was very gracious of the mayor to agree to talk with me. I want to personally thank and honor him for that. If you do nothing else, listen to the section of the interview about the Buffalo Green Code. This is one of the most important developments ongoing in major American cities right now. Buffalo is completely re-writing … [Read more...]

What Will It Take to Bring Back Struggling Rust Belt Cities?

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America is replete with struggling post-industrial cities.   Massive efforts have been made, and huge amounts of money spent, to try to bring them back. Yet these have basically all failed. What will it take to bring these cities back? Let's look at the case studies of cities that actually have come back, including many of the largest ones like New York, London, and Boston. In the 1970s, the future looked very bleak for them. New York nearly went bankrupt. Today their problem is that they are so in demand that housing prices have … [Read more...]

Mayor Mick Cornett Explains Oklahoma City’s Transformation

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In addition to my article about Oklahoma City's transformation, I also sat down with Mayor Mick Cornett to have him describe it in his own words. If the audio embed doesn't display for you, click over to listen on Soundcloud. We covered a number of topics during the talk, including. 0:00 - Introduction and the effect of the federal building bombing 4:20 - The Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) program 5:33 - Is Oklahoma City's economy just oil and gas? 7:32 - Securing water supplies for a city in an arid region 8:51 - OKC has had … [Read more...]

12 Ways to Map the Midwest

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What is the Midwest? There's been a lot of debate about this question among folks passionate about such thing. But it defies easy definition. Here are eleven ways various people have taken a crack at drawing the map. Traditional Maps 1. The Northwest Territory Start with the original Northwest Territory, now sometimes referred to as the Great Lakes region. This is the historic core of what we now think of as the Midwest. 2. Midwest Census Division The Census Bureau has an official definition of the Midwest, which is one of four … [Read more...]

How Urban Planning Made Motown Records Possible

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  I'm reading Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss, a book I plan to review for City Journal. But I want to highlight something briefly that really caught my eye about Motown Records. It's no secret Detroit punches above its weight in musical influence, and the Motown sound was clearly a big part of that. Maraniss asks "Why Detroit? What gave this city its unmatched creative melody?" He lays out his theory of the case with regards to Motown Records. The family piano's role in the music that flowed out of the … [Read more...]

A Riverfront Revelation in Chicago

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The image we have of Chicago in our minds is heavily shaped by its lakefront. The importance of the lakefront as public space was recognized long ago when the city built its magnificent lakefront park system, choosing to largely turn its back on industrializing the lake. Chicago was heavily industrialized, however, But the main "harbors" along which this was done were the Chicago and Calumet Rivers. The Chicago River heavily shaped the history of the city and do this day defines the boundaries of the Loop business district.   Yet the city … [Read more...]

Susan Chin on the Spaces Under the Elevated

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Following on to my post yesterday about the a project called Under the Elevated that is looking at the in New York City that exist under the elevated transportation infrastructure of the city, I also was able to sit down with Susan Chin of the Design Trust for Public Space and talk for around ten minutes about the project. I would describe the Design Trust as a sort of R&D lab for public space improvements in New York. They do very early stage conceptual studies of things like spaces under elevated trains, and develop ideas that can then … [Read more...]

When High Density Is Humane, Chicago Edition

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Kenmore Ave. looking south from BeldenAs a follow-up to my piece on the humane density of New York's Upper West Side, I was in Chicago last weekend and took some snaps of the same effect in that city share with you. These pictures are of Lincoln Park, a North Side neighborhood that is among the city's most prestigious. It's about three square miles, extending from the lakefront park of the same name west to around Clybourn Ave. The density is 20,000 per square mile. This is far lower than the Upper West Side, but the comparison is not quite … [Read more...]