It's no secret I'm a fan of Columbus, Ohio, one of those under the radar cities that's a whole lot better than its external brand image would suggest. That frustrates local civic leaders, who've undertaken a major re-branding effort, as discussed in a recent NYT piece, "There May Be ‘No Better Place,’ but There Is a Better Slogan:" Quick, what do you think about when you hear the words “Columbus, Ohio”? Still waiting.... And that’s the problem that civic leaders here hope to solve. This capital city in the middle of a state better known, … [Read more...]
Columbus – The New Midwestern Star
Columbus, Ohio is by far the best performing city in Ohio. In a state that has become a byword for the challenges and pain of de-industrialization, Columbus is a clear standout, with strong economic and population growth. A lot of the analysis of what makes Columbus different from Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, Youngstown, and even Cincinnati often starts out by noting all the advantages Columbus had. It is the state capital. Ohio State University is there. It was not a traditional heavy manufacturing center (less true than you might think), and … [Read more...]
The Mark of a Great City Is in How It Treats Its Ordinary Spaces, Not Its Special Ones
Cities turn to starchitecture in order to create iconic images to symbolize their city and its aspirations to the world. Famous buildings can, as with the Bilbao Guggenheim or the Milwaukee Art Museum, even come to symbolize a city itself. Such buildings or spaces also fulfill the human need for the spectacular, and for sacred space in the community. Similarly cities create "gateways" to mark the entry to special districts, or engage in various "placemaking" initiatives around branding. We frequently see, for example, the main street, plaza, … [Read more...]
Chicago’s Structural Advantages (and Professional Services 2.0)
It's no secret that Illinois, like the rest of America, has been suffering in this economy. It also has the dubious distinction of probably being in the worst fiscal shape in America. llinois Gov. Pat Quinn appointed a group called the Illinois Recovery Commission to examine the state's future, who recently issued their final report. As is mandatory in this genre of document, the commission devoted a lot of ink to creating a "culture of innovation" in Illinois and putting it in the forefront of new economy businesses. Illinois may exists as … [Read more...]
Replay: The Decline of Civic Leadership Culture
"Cleveland’s leadership has no apparent theory of change. Overwhelmingly, the strategy is now driven by individual projects. These projects, pushed by the real estate interests that dominate the board of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, confuse real estate development with economic development. This leads to the 'Big Thing Theory' of economic development: Prosperity results from building one more big thing." - Ed Morrison, "Cleveland: Reconstructing the Comeback" Ed Morrison wrote the above about Cleveland, but he could have been … [Read more...]
Chicago and the Epicenter
Crain's Chicago Business ran a major story assessing the Daley administration's track record in Chicago last week. The title, "Mayor Daley runs up big debts building his global city; what about the rest of Chicago?," implies a negative piece, but it has a lot of positive things to say too. The piece includes a quote from a previous major post of mine on the city, talking about how I want Chicago to be less of a generic world city, and find more of its own niche in the world. I want to expand on that notion today. Some of these thoughts are … [Read more...]
Bruce Mau’s Massive Change
"Natural resources ... pollution ... world's food supply ... pressures of population growth ... Every trend in material human welfare has been improving - and promises to do so indefinitely." - Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource With those provocative words on the cover, economist Julian L. Simon launched his magnum opus, a paean to the ingenuity of man and a rebuke to the doomsayers who have been more or less continuing to predict man-made catastrophe for the world since the time of Malthus. Simon was an unapologetic free trader … [Read more...]
The Neighborhoods of Cincinnati
Cincinnati can be incredibly surprising to people who don't know much about it. Cincinnati was the Queen City of the Midwest when Chicago was a small village. And it has an incredible legacy from that day. Cincinnati simply has the greatest collection of assets of any city its size in America. It's an embarrassment of riches. Yet Cincinnati has not been a strong economic performer in some time. It's not doing poorly, but it isn't great either. I examined Cincinnati in one of my signature overview posts a couple years ago called "A Midwest … [Read more...]
Next American Suburb: Carmel, Indiana
The fate of the suburb is one of the most important issues facing Americas metro areas. While many have decried their environmental unsustainability, even those who don't agree on that should worry greatly about their demographic, economic, and fiscal sustainability. As early inner ring suburbs across America increasingly face decay, poverty, and crime, it is clear that the allure wears off these places once they are no longer shiny and new and people can simply move to another, newer suburb on the fringe that is. If most of today's boomburgs … [Read more...]
People for Urban Progress and the New Grass Roots
I'm starting a new feature on the blog today in which I'll periodically profile great examples of positive urban change coming from the new grass roots. Today I'm featuring People for Urban Progress (PUP) from Indianapolis. One day back when I had an apartment in Indy's Fountain Square neighborhood, I popped into the local bike shop, Joe's Cycles, and saw two people having a conversation with Joe about a project they were working on to make bicycle bags out of reused fabric from the roof of the RCA Dome. I was intrigued and so introduced … [Read more...]
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