This post originally ran on November 11, 2009. Until recently I had an apartment in the Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis. Fountain Square is a small commercial node surrounded by houses on the near southeast side of the city that has long been my favorite 'hood in the city. I've been hanging out in the area for over 15 years. Fountain Square was a sort of lower working class neighborhood. The South Side of Indianapolis is notably more Southern in character than the north. In fact, some have said that Washington St. (or I-70) … [Read more...]
The Problem of Innovation
This post originally ran on February 6, 2011. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not...Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. - Matthew 17:10-13Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass that, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it … [Read more...]
NYU’s Marron Center and the School of the City
Camus said that the ultimate question of philosophy is: Why not kill yourself? For urban studies, that question might be: Why start yet another urban studies institute? This is certainly top of mind as New York University trumpeted a $40 million gift from Donald Marron to form and endow the Marron Institute on Cities in the Urban Environment. In part, as Marron Institute Director Revesz notes, it is to bring order to the large number of other urban oriented or related institutes already at NYU, saying, “The Marron Institute isn’t just … [Read more...]
Why Cities Matter
Why Cities Matter by Stephen Um and Justin Buzzard Pretty much everybody doing anything today has to be thinking about how to respond to urbanism, especially in a global but also a developed world context. While it's clearly too early to proclaim the "death of the suburb" clearly cities have experienced a resurgence. New York, LA, and San Francisco are at all time population highs. The District of Columbia and Philadelphia grew for the first time since 1950 according to the latest census. Religion has been one of those movements that has … [Read more...]
No Parking, No Problem
[ Here's a rarity. It's one from the archives that I wrote way back in 1997. There are a lot of anachronisms in it, but it is still very relevant. Also, this should not be considered overly specific to Indianapolis, because the thinking is pervasive, though thankfully improving in a lot of places - Aaron. ] It is almost considered a truism in Indianapolis that one of the biggest obstacles to getting people to come downtown to shop, see the sights, etc. is a lack of free, convenient parking. People driving in from the suburbs are forced to … [Read more...]
The Power of Corporate Logos in Branding Cities
Rolls-Royce Logo on Building in Downtown Indianapolis. Photo courtesy Gary Glover.While driving up and down Boston's Route 128, I've often noticed the various tech company logos that adorn the office buildings - Oracle, SAP, Adobe, etc. Interestingly, most of the ones that catch my eye aren't Boston area based companies. Yet the presence of these blue-chip tech names on the buildings reinforces in my mind that Boston is a tech center. I had a similar thing happen when I was in Indy last fall. Rolls-Royce - which actually manufactures … [Read more...]
Are You a Consumer or a Producer?
Cities like New York offer a nearly unlimited range of pastimes, diversions, and consumption activities. If you want to have a good meal, see a top notch arts performance, shop, etc., this is the place for you. You can get more quantity of quality in the world's biggest cities than you can anywhere else. The question I often ask though, is whether most of the people living there and partaking of what the city has to offer in fact are part of helping to create those things apart from spending money on them. While anyone with a job or who does … [Read more...]
What Assets Should We Privatize?
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that New York has scrapped its plans to privatize parking meters. It's no secret that I've generally been a critic of long term privatization deals for on-street parking. The reason is simple. Parking meters are not a capital asset like a toll bridge, nor are they a traditional city service like garbage collection. Rather, parking meters are an urban planning tool we use to manage access to precious on-street real estate. As the way we will want to manage this real estate over time will change, it's … [Read more...]
The Strategic Case for Mass Transit in Indianapolis
Andrea Neal had a column in the Indianapolis Star last week called "Mass transit just isn't a good fit for Indy." This piece argues, basically, that because Indianapolis is low density, transit won't work there. Let me first say that I agree Indy is low density and transit is not something that's needed to address a serious, near term transport issue, save for the embarrassing state of the basic bus network. However, for a place like Indianapolis, the real case for transit is strategic. In a nutshell, the urban core of Indianapolis is … [Read more...]
Regarding Smart Cities
I was in Barcelona a couple weeks ago for the Smart City Expo and World Congress, where I moderated a session on the impact of smart city technologies on cities. Not only is Barcelona an amazing city itself, it was great to get to see European urbanists we don't always run across in the US, like Charles Landry and Ricky Burdett. As is often the case, I think we here in America (myself included) end up trapped in a US-centric bubble in our thinking. So it's good to break out of it. My session brought out a number of interesting points in … [Read more...]
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