Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

No Parking, No Problem

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[ 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

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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?

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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?

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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

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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...]

Mumbai Is a Beautiful City

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[ Rameshwari Takle is an Indian native who came to the US to study architecture at IIT. She was kind enough to write this piece for us about Mumbai, Indian, where she previously lived - Aaron. ] Photo Credit: Flickr/Dey“Mumbai is a beautiful city, but a terrible place” ~ Architect Charles CorreaAfter having lived in Mumbai for almost 8 years, I completely agree with the above statement. How much ever ironic it sounds, the city of Mumbai is extremely beautiful in its own essence, yet it is a terrible place to live. It is a city of extremes. … [Read more...]

Milwaukee’s Relationship with the Chicago Mega-City Revisited

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[ I am going to take a break until early 2013. See you folks in the New Year. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this piece by David Holmes that follows up on my "Don't Fly Too Close to the Sun" piece. He makes some of the same points I did at the conference, as well as some new ones I found interesting. Bye for now! - Aaron. ] I was intrigued by Aaron’s recent post "Don't Fly Too Close to the Sun Piece" which focused on the relationship between Milwaukee and Chicago and the notion of whether “proximity to Chicago or another mega-city … [Read more...]

Regarding Smart Cities

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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...]

Chicago’s Northwest Indiana Advantage

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This article is part of the State of Chicago. Chicago is in effect a tri-state area consisting of parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The lion's share of the population is in Illinois. Also, the city is by far the largest municipality in the area - it's bigger than a lot of states. This leads to a very Illinois-centric and Chicago-centric civic leadership and view of the world. Perhaps rightly so. However, Chicago, looking for advantages where ever it can, should seek to find them in collaboration with the other states. Today I'll … [Read more...]

New England vs. Midwest Culture

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How Physical, Cultural and Political Differences Shape Development and Economic Growth I was recently asked to make a comparison living in New England versus the Midwest-specifically how cultural and political differences impact the economic and physical development framework of the two regions. This is something that I have at least a modest knowledge of, given that I have lived and worked in both areas (Born and raised in Hamden, CT near New Haven, attended college near Boston and now live near Columbus, OH). As a real estate developer and … [Read more...]