My latest piece will be in this Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer but is already available online now. It's about the nascent revival in Philadelphia over the past decade, and its relevance, or rather lack of relevance, to many other struggling cities in Pennsylvania. Here's an excerpt: In many ways the city has been ideally positioned for new economy success. The Philadelphia metro area is a very large region of 6.1 million people in an era in which larger cities have been growing faster. Philadelphia has a highly educated population, … [Read more...]
How Does Housing Stock Affect Urban Revitalization?
The second of Pete Saunders' nine reasons why Detroit failed is "poor housing stock," particularly its overweighting towards small, early postwar cottages. Here's a sample: Here's what Pete had to say: Detroit may be well-known for its so-called ruins, but much of the city is relentlessly covered with small, Cape Cod-style, 3-bedroom and one-bath single family homes on slabs that are not in keeping with contemporary standards for size and quality.....The truth, however, is that Detroit may have one of the greatest concentrations of … [Read more...]
Philadelphia Transit Notes
I was in Philadelphia this weekend. It's a great city whose downtown is booming. And I got to ride transit there for the first time in my various visits. The picture above is one of the rail corridors approaching 30th St. Station, the station used by Amtrak. Because there's a rail yard next to the station, this is a pretty wide example, but it shows that it isn't just interstate highways that create barriers between neighborhoods in cities. Major rail corridors do the same thing. People might argue that there's a difference in that many … [Read more...]
The Three Generations of Black Mayors in America
[ This week is the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, so I'll be away and enjoying it for the rest of the week. As a holiday long read for you, I'm posting this very important piece about the three generations of black mayors in America and how the timing of the election of the first black mayor affected the trajectory of those cities, with implications even today. Pete is the best writer on urbanism and race that I know and you can read his writings about this and more on his site Corner Side Yard - Aaron. ] The Monument to Joe Louis, … [Read more...]
Philadelphia Center City Stations
Philadelphia Market East Station. Photo Credit: Flickr/acetonicThis post is part of a series called North America’s Train Stations: What Makes Them Sustainable — or Not? See the series introduction for more. In the series introduction, I divided America’s stations into four categories based on how they are evolving to sustainability. The first was “The Likely Sustainables.” While most cities have plans to reutilize their central station, these cities are doing it best. These stations serve compact cities and are using these economic … [Read more...]
David Gunn on Amtrak’s $151bn NEC Plan and How He Rebuilt the Harrisburg Line by Stephen Smith
[ If you didn't read Stephen Smith's two great recent pieces on why US transit costs are so high over at Bloomberg, you should check them out now. See: US Taxpayers Are Gouged on Transit Costs and Labor Rules Snarl US Commuter Trains. He also writes over at Forbes and the great blog Market Urbanism, which takes a free market view of boosting cities. He followed up on these pieces with this one talking about Amtrak. I hope you enjoy - Aaron. ] First order of business: I wrote two articles for Bloomberg View (the opinion counterpart to … [Read more...]
Brief Notes from a Trip to Philadelphia
I've always said that Philadelphia is the biggest city in America you wouldn't notice disappearing. With six million people, it's the sixth largest metro in America. And while, because of the vagaries of metro area definitions, I think that overstates its rank a bit, without a doubt, Philly is one of America's largest metro areas. A 1.5 million people, Philadelphia is also America's 5th largest municipality. So why doesn't Philly loom larger in the national consciousness? When we think of Philly, mostly we think of stuff that happened a long … [Read more...]
A Better Road to Clean Water Act Compliance
I’ve noted before that the astronomical cost of Clean Water Act compliance for our cities was a killer. Most older cities are also struggling with deteriorated street infrastructure that would require another massive dose of spending to correct. Also, in the Midwest, most cities have street networks that are not even right in their very conception for the modern day anyway. And, they need to make major investments to create a more green city as well. A plan out of Philadelphia shows the way to kill three birds with one stone. With the most … [Read more...]