[ This post inaugurates a three part series on "megaregions" and the applicability of this concept to the Midwest. It is a repeat of something I wrote on the subject a bit over a year ago. That should lay the ground work. Part two of the series will be a review of the book "Megaregions", edited by Catherine L. Ross. The third part will be some thinking on ways the Midwest might be able to apply megaregional thinking to its problems. As you will see, I come to this subject as a skeptic. This post originally ran on July 11, 2008] There … [Read more...]
Building Suburbs That Last #3 – The Mother of All Impact Fees
I consider the suburban decay facing inner ring suburbs across America, especially those of the 60's and 70's vintage built on a modern suburban pattern, as one of the key challenges facing urban leaders over the coming decades. I outlined a lot of the case in my review of the book "Retrofitting Suburbia". Why is this happening? One big reason cities tend to fall into decline is that they accumulate huge unfunded liabilities, and those liabilities attach to the territory, not the people. This lets one generation of residents rack up huge … [Read more...]
Building Suburbs That Last #2 – New Urbanism and Parcelization
This is the latest installment in my series on "Building Suburbs That Last". Essential background reading is in my review of Retrofitting Suburbia. To reprise, the trouble facing America's aging suburbs is likely to be one America's top urban challenges of coming years. As suburbs age and fall into decay, they are abandoned for rejuvenated center cities or newer edge suburbs. As I previously asked, who is going to buy a beat up used car when you can get new car with a warranty for cheaper on the fringe? Nobody, which is why we see older … [Read more...]
Chicago: Reconnecting the Hinterland, Part 1B – High Speed Rail
The first installment in my series on ideas for reconnecting Chicago with its natural expanded region in the Midwest focused on what could be enabled by linking Milwaukee and Indianapolis to Chicago via high speed rail. This makes it a good time to talk about Midwest high speed rail generally. There's been a lot of talk in recent years about the idea of creating a Midwest high speed rail network. The federal government has already designated a system of Midwest rail corridors. There's a lobbying organization pushing it called the Midwest … [Read more...]
Building Suburbs That Last #1 – Strategy
The problem of the suburbs is one of the great challenges facing urban America today. Older suburbs across America are struggling with population declines, decaying commercial areas, and increasing poverty. As ever more suburbs start to fall into the aging category, this problem seems likely only to grow more severe over time. Even the currently shiny new suburbs on the edge seem unlikely to hold their allure when they too are full and old, with even newer edge burbs just down the road. Enormous amounts of time, money, intellectual … [Read more...]
Retrofitting Suburbia
What to do about the suburbs? This will be the great urban development challenge in coming decades. As growth radiates out ever further from the central city, older suburban areas lose their allure. They are selling an obsolete version of the same basic auto-oriented development style as newer suburbs, but with higher taxes, more crime, and worse schools. This puts them in a strategic rough spot. Inner ring suburbs across America are starting to decay. The first sign of trouble seems to be decayed, abandoned strip malls and commercial … [Read more...]
Cincinnati: A Midwest Conundrum
I recently had the privilege of spending a couple of days in Cincinnati. As always, I was completely blown away by all the great things this city has. There is simply not a city in the Midwest apart from Chicago that has anything near the great assets of Cincy. It is an embarrassment of riches. Yet, I'm always befuddled as well as I puzzle a great conundrum: if Cincinnati is so great, how come it isn't the San Francisco of the Midwest instead of a typical, modestly stagnated Midwestern city? I don't profess to have the answers, but it just … [Read more...]
Impressions of Nashville
I spent a very brief Memorial Day weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. It was my first visit to the city. While I normally focus on Midwestern cities, Nashville and some others in the southeast are very much along the lines of what I would call "aspirational" cities. Of course, this is based on a too-brief visit, but let's face it, first impressions matter. Two somewhat contradictory things stand out in my mind. The first is that Nashville is a city on the make. Like many Sun Belt metros with heady growth, Nashville really has the feel that it … [Read more...]
Carmel: Leadership in Action, Part Two
This is the second part in my series on Carmel, Indiana. Here is a link to Part One, which covers the background and infrastructural elements. Part Three discusses various criticisms This part is focused on the redevelopment of Carmel's core around the principles of New Urbanism, and the attempt to build a downwtown from scratch. New Urbanism is a recent trend in urban planning that rejects the traditional suburban design pattern of highly segregated land uses (i.e., traditional zoning) and auto-oriented development in favor of more compact, … [Read more...]
Carmel: Leadership in Action, Part One
Carmel, Indiana is an Indianapolis suburb just across the northern border into Hamilton County. It has long been one of the premier addresses in the region, and clearly the most upscale suburb. The person who used to run the Indianapolis office of my company once remarked that he's never lived in another city where there was just one "rich suburb". When you think of wealthy communities in Indiana, it is Carmel and only Carmel that comes to mind. And believe me, most people in the state know it. So this is a town that attracts a unique type of … [Read more...]
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