The proposal drew fire from one longtime critic of the
strategy of subsidizing private development and of dense
projects. Urban historian Joel Kotkin questioned whether the
east San Fernando Valley needs more movie theaters. "I don't
understand it. We're giving away property when we're supposed to
be selling it," said Kotkin, author of The City: A
Global History. "You'd think that the budget crisis would
make people think twice about this."
Los Angeles Times
Forget selling land to balance L.A.'s budget, city is giving
it away
The council is set to vote on a proposal to give a three-acre
site in North Hollywood to a developer building offices and a
movie theater near the Red Line station.
By David Zahniser and Steve Hymon
Read the
Commentary
For
years cities large and small have struggled to breathe life into
their downtowns, left languishing as big-box centers and malls
bled off business. In many of the successful efforts, the
private sector is the pulse of the revitalization, while the
government plays a supporting role, experts say.
The Press-Enterprise
Inland cities have mixed success
revitalizing their downtowns
By Aaron Burgin
Read the
Commentary
Selon
J. Kotkin, le modèle de croissance des « vieilles » cités
américaines telles que New York et Chicago, fondé exclusivement
sur la hausse de la productivité des emplois existants et sur le
déplacement vers le haut de la « gamme » d'habitants, ne peut
être viable pour l'ensemble des USA, dont la population est
projetée à 420 millions d'âmes en 2050 (+40% /aujourd'hui). Ce
sont au contraire les "can do cities", telles que les
grandes métropoles texanes, mais aussi des villes moyennes en
très forte expansion comme Kansas City, qui procureront aux
familles qui démarrent en bas de l'échelle sociale les
opportunités d'intégration sociale qui leur font défaut dans les
villes à zonage "snob". Les
grandes villes au sol fortement réglementé excluent les pauvres
de leur modèle d'intégration, les villes libres leur redonnent
une chance de goûter au rêve américain. D'où un spectre
de revenus plus étalé vers le bas.
Logement, crise publique,
remèdes privés
un livre, un site, un regard neuf sur la crise française du
logement
Houston, Dallas... Les grandes villes libres sont-elles des
enfers urbains ?
par Vincent Bénard
Lire le Commentaire
The
era of the Empire State’s reign over America has come to an end,
and a new dawn of political power, in the hands of the Sunshine
State, is upon us. After the 2010 Census, New York will lose two
congressional seats and Florida will gain two. It will put both
states’ delegations at 27 seats and mark the first time that
Florida has caught up with once-mighty New York.
The Politico
Florida catching up with once-mighty N.Y.
New York had the second-slowest population growth in 2007.
By Patrick Ottenhoff
Read the
Commentary
Suburban villages rule. An unapologetic booster of “smart
sprawl,” Kotkin doesn't buy the trendy wisdom that a large
segment of Americans wants to move downtown and live in lofts.
Ninety-two percent of recent growth has been in the suburbs,
Kotkin reminded. Downtowns here and around the world are
struggling to retain their populations. The hip urban scene
works for young singles until the baby arrives. Even gay couples
prefer square footage and a yard, Kotkin said.
San Diego Union-Tribune
Leaders learn how to fix local ailments
By Logan Jenkins
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Commentary
Many economists say the core rate does not show how inflation
is affecting the typical consumer. Because salary raises for
most people are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living,
people are using a greater percentage of their wages to buy a
smaller amount of goods. “Food prices and the price of gas are
really eroding the purchasing power not just of the working
class, but people in the middle class, who are already beginning
to have a hard time making ends meet,” said business-trend
consultant Joel Kotkin.
San Diego Union-Tribune
The Fed's inflation gauge isn't realistic, critics say
By Dean Calbreath
Read the
Commentary
When
I wrote the post about “The Collapse of the Empire State,” I
spoke with demographer Joel Kotkin who thought that the “the
City is the only thing keeping [the state] from bankruptcy.” So
New York State probably needs New York City more than the city
needs the state.
The Electoral Map
Should New York City Secede From the Empire State?
Read the Commentary
Read the
Blog
Kotkin
said that city councils should focus on creating better
conditions for the middle classes and for industry. In his
opinion, it is the middle classes that create economic
development and are the foundation for a well-functioning city.
He also said that since Denmark’s economy was based on
specialised products and services, agriculture and expertise,
Danes would be better off focusing on excelling in those areas.
The Copenhagen Post
City Hall ostracises middle classes
Industry and the middle classes are being pushed out of
Copenhagen city centre according to an American writer
By Lan Yu Tan
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Requires
Adobe Reader
Los Angeles has long epitomised car-oriented sprawl. As early as 1946 the
historian Carey McWilliams judged it "a collection of suburbs in search of a
city". So rare are neighbourhoods where basic needs can be met without
hopping into a car or bus that estate agents tout the few where they can as
"walkable". Urban planners elsewhere routinely invoke the city as an example
of what to avoid. Yet even as they struggle to avoid becoming like Los
Angeles, cities such as Atlanta, Phoenix and San Jose are copying it by
spreading out and, hydra-like, growing new centres.
The Economist
Tackling the Hydra
Its politicians are determined to turn Los Angeles into a normal city
Read the
Commentary
Joel Kotkin and Erika Ozuna analyzed the Valley's demographic
changes in a 2002 report for Pepperdine University's School of
Public Policy and the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando
Valley. "Back in the '70s, the region was perceived — and
rightly so — as a bastion of predominantly Anglo middle-class
residents.... The Valley today is not a bland homogenized
middle-class suburb; it is an increasingly cosmopolitan, diverse
and racially intermixed region united by a common geography,
economy and, to a large extent, middle-class aspirations," the
report says. Jews, of course, are part of this.
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
- March 28, 2008
City Voice: The perfect combination
By Bill Boyarsky
Urban theorist Joel Kotkin wrote that, “History has shown repeatedly that
once a city can no longer protect its inhabitants, they inevitably flee, and
the city slides into decline and even extinction.’’ The Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission, which quoted that
passage in a recent crime abatement report, wants to prevent that scenario
from playing out in post-Hurricane Katrina Jefferson Parish.
The Baton Rouge Advocate
Inside Report for March 11, 2008
By Joe Gyan Jr.
Read the
Commentary
In the 1960s, a city growth cap of 4.2 million was established as the
peak load for Los Angeles' infrastructure and services. This allowed for
urban centers like Century City, Warner Center and downtown, while
protecting single-family neighborhoods. Three years ago, Perica warned,
"growth beyond 4.2 million people would require that existing single-family
neighborhoods and lower-density residential areas would have to be
'up-zoned' in the future for more intense multistory density." He added
pointedly, "Residents didn't want Los Angeles to look like other
higher-density Eastern cities, like Chicago and New York."
LA Weekly
City Hall's "Density Hawks" Are Changing L.A.'s DNA
Bitter homes & gardens?
By Steven Leigh Morris
Read the
Commentary
People
once valued their homes above all. In studying consumers who
filed for bankruptcy, experts found that they’d hand over their
credit cards, their cars, their savings, whatever else they had,
even if it made no financial sense, just to keep their homes.
There was shame, or sadness, the pain of losing a long-treasured
home, the embarrassment of failing on a mortgage, the melancholy
of older couples leaving behind the homes where they’d raised
their families. Losing a home conjured images of the Great
Depression, memories of hard times shared by grandparents around
the kitchen table. Now there’s just relief.
The Washington Independent
Mortgage Crisis Triggers Walk Aways
Desperate Decisions Mark a Shift in Home Ownership Attitudes
By Mary Kane
Read the
Commentary
New Urbanism’s greatest failure has been its inability to
provide for mixed-income housing. That was the idea at the start
– all this neighborliness and high-density development was
supposed to include people of all income levels. That was the
dream. But the developments proved to be so popular, and so
expensive, that the moderate income houses never did get built
on any substantial scale. The only mixed-income living at
Kentlands turned out to be the Au pair suites above the garages.
The Washington Independent
Elitism of Urban Planning
By Mary Kane
Read the
Commentary
ities
and suburbs are going to change as they accommodate more people.
And there are new advances in transportation and
telecommunications technology, with more demand for social
sustainability. Kotkin believes that the model is more like Los
Angeles and less like New York City. But he also thinks that the
model is one that will create small, self-sufficient
communities, where people live near work or telecommute from
home — as opposed to bedroom communities.
Ventura County Star
New kind of community on horizon
Distinction between cities, suburbs should erode in future,
author says
By Allison Bruce
Read the
Commentary
Joel
Kotkin, who studies cities and suburbs at Chapman University in
California, says three or four decades ago, cities started
losing middle-class white people with school-age children. Those
families went seeking the schools, the space and the security of
the suburbs. And that left cities with what Kotkin calls an
array of demographic "niches." "And that niche tends to be
either minorities, poor people, young people, people without
children -- all of whom tend to be vote much more liberal."
Minnesota Public Radio
Why Dems rule the city — Republicans, the outer ring
By Curtis Gilbert
Read the
Commentary
California
remains a giant of culture and agriculture, the world's sixth
largest economy, the land of iPods and IPOs. But politically,
"California is a stage where people play," said Joel Kotkin, an
author, professor and futurist who has spent 35 years writing on
the state's politics. "It no longer sets the stage." Memories of
the California that was have echoed across the state as it
reasserts its prominence in the most wide-open presidential race
in a half-century.
Chicago
Tribune
Campaign 2008
Trendsetter legacy fades in California
Politically, it 'no longer sets the stage'
By Jim Tankersley
Read the
Commentary
Recent
polls show the race tightening both nationally and in key
states, including California. That state is Tuesday’s biggest
prize, with 370 delegates at stake — though it is not winner
take all. In any case, its diversity and scale make it an ideal
for the rest of the country. Kotkin ... pointed out that that
state has a history of bucking its establishment. He pointed to
Ronald Reagan’s gubernatorial victory in 1966, and the success
of Proposition 13, an anti-tax ballot initiative, in 1978.
“Although Hillary has got the institutional strength," Kotkin
said, "sometimes in California, institutional strength is not
all that important.”
The Washington Independent
Democrats Make Final Pitch Before Super Tuesday
California Tops Prize List, Serves as Proxy for the Nation
By Holly Yeager
Read the
Commentary
Why do young people leave
Pittsburgh? Why do they go somewhere else? I don't think it's
because other places are prettier, because Pittsburgh's pretty
attractive. It's not because other places have necessarily nicer
neighborhoods or nicer houses. It's because of opportunity. You
have a tremendous cost advantage in Pittsburgh. You can offer
both a suburban and an urban lifestyle at considerably lower
cost than your prime competitors. What you don't have is a
flourishing, entrepreneurial, opportunity kind of economy.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Kotkin & Florida on Pittsburgh at 250
By Bill Steigerwald
Read the
Commentary
Crops
and cows," Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs said. "Five years ago,
that's all this was: Crops and cows." Now it is home to Super
Bowl XLII, where this Sunday thousands will descend on a massive
sports-entertainment complex that is, depending on your point of
view, either a post-modern nightmare of placeless,
character-deprived, homogeneous sprawl — or, to quote Westgate
City Center's marketing, "a capital city of the new century ...
the new, breathtaking standard in urban development."
New Jersey Star-Ledger
From farm fields it grew
A mega sports complex blossoms, changing Glendale forever
By Brad Parks
Read the
Commentary
Two
big forces are only beginning to be reckoned with by U.S.
cities: global warming and a new paradigm for resources, whether
it involves water scarcity or ever higher energy prices. That
leaves the kind of car-dependent, suburbanized America as an
increasingly costly and unsustainable venture. Another force
potentially undermines traditional Seattle strengths: attracting
talent and competing in the global economy.
The Seattle Times
Seattle, take heed: Rosy times won't last
By Jon Talton
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin
and others like influential demographer and policy guru Wendell
Cox argue that cultural institutions are a by-product of high
performing cities that have focused on first things first, like
roads, transit, sewers, bridges and other hard assets. Yours
truly is more inclined to this way of thinking.
The Ottawa Sun
Time is now to weigh priorities
By Walter Robinson
Read the
Commentary
We're
not Pollyannas. This nation faces serious challenges, both
abroad (in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere) and at home (in a
number of arenas that anyone who follows the news can recite by
heart). But it does seem at times as if many Americans take a
perverse satisfaction in seeing every glass half empty, even
those that appear well on their way to being filled.
Rocky Mountain News
New year, new hope
Americans need to step back and put the present in perspective
Read the
Commentary
More
people are leaving New York than any other state, new population
estimates from the U.S. Census show, making it one of America's
most stagnant populations. Experts blame the exodus — nearly 1.5
million people have moved out of New York since April 2000 — on
high property taxes and fewer jobs, among other factors.
New York Sun
Census Shows Many Leaving New York
By Tatyana Gershkovich
Read the
Commentary
Urban scholar Joel Kotkin says inevitably, the killing will
spill over into the city's core. "A lot of the Toronto
establishment, if you want to put it that way, sees itself as
this hip cool thriving city doing so much better than many
American cities," says Kotkin. Increasingly, Toronto is a domain
of the very rich and very poor, he says, as the middle class and
the jobs they create migrate to the suburbs. Violent crime is a
major part of that migration.
Ottawa Citizen
Toronto's murder rate surpasses "Year of the Gun"
By Lee Greenberg
Read the
Commentary
Conventional
wisdom says densely populated cities are more energy efficient
and better for the environment, while suburban development eats
up precious open space and creates miles of polluting traffic
snarls. But recent studies show that cities use
disproportionately high amounts of energy and add to global
warming, while suburbs do not.
The Columbian
Washington View: Planned communities strike right balance
By Don Brunell
Read the
Commentary
The
bulk of these big population centers don't offer high living
quality, at least not yet. Rapid growth makes it nearly
impossible for local infrastructure to keep pace, making for a
lot of congestion and slow movement around town. Densification
without gentrification generally means a lower quality of life,
points out urban expert Joel Kotkin.
Forbes
Logistics
The World's Densest Cities
By Robert Malone and Tom Van Riper
Read the
Commentary
Young
families are leaving New York more and more, threatening to turn
the city in the next few decades into one largely of older,
childless and single people. It’s these young families that lay
down the sorts of roots that animate a city’s culture and
economy, and that ensure its long-term vitality. Lose young
families and, eventually, lose a city’s soul and brainpower.
The New York Observer
Graying Of the City: Young Families Fleeing New York
By Tom Acitelli
Read the
Commentary
The
focus on big developments that take up a lot of space and money
is often at the expense of the basics, argued Kotkin, a
presidential fellow at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. “It
always seems they try to throw the Hail Mary pass,” he said.
Investments in infrastructure, education and the economy provide
a greater return and create wealth and jobs. Pennsylvania, in
general, has lots of nice attractive, affordable towns and “they
ought to build around that,” he said.
Pennsylvania TimesLeader
Vonderheid: Condo developer hire near
By Jerry Lynott
Read the
Commentary
Joel
Kotkin and Ali Modarres argue that concentrated cities and
suburbs produce a hot footprint by their density and high energy
use. Those authors bring up the notions of "smart sprawl" and
"an archipelago of villages." That last one seems close to the
vision of the Cascade Land Conservancy's idea of rural cities
still dependent on forest products from living forests protected
from sprawl but not from logging.
Seattle Times
How green is my valley of roads, transit?
By James Vesely
Read the
Commentary
It's the economy, stupid" is a phrase we shall hear again, even
if Democrats remain unsure of its ultimate meaning. A modern
economy, built on robust discretionary consumption, is as likely
to drown those on the upper decks as those in steerage once
consumer incomes fall far enough. This is something we already
see in the mortgage crisis. Only two alternatives will then
remain: Hire enough night watchmen to postpone chaos, or restore
the economic factors that once produced widespread consumer
prosperity.
Los Angeles Times
BLOWBACK
The common man will rise!
A reader cries Hitler after an Op-Ed in The Times sideswipes
limousine liberals.
By Jim Woolsey
Read the
Commentary
With Denver pushing high-density development on multiple
neighborhood fronts, it's well to consider the long-term effects
of a policy concentrated so heavily on housing that appeals
mostly to singles, the retired and other childless households.
Rocky Mountain News
CARROLL: Scolding the public
By Vincent Carroll
Read the
Commentary
Under
a proudly distinct honor system intended to buck East Coast
practices and reduce operating costs, riders buy their tickets,
get on the train and present them to a sheriff’s deputy or
civilian inspector — if any happen to ask. But after 14 years of
trust, Los Angeles is preparing to join those cities where
slipping past, under and over transit turnstiles and gates is an
art form.
Los Angeles Times
An End to the Free Ride on Trains in Los Angeles
By Randal C. Archibold
Read the
Commentary
It’s
easy to divide North America into red and blue, or Jesusland and
the United States of Canada as one popular map described it in
2004. It’s also easy to cast the New Continent as a melting pot
or as one big purple state of mixed identities. But both of
those descriptions are false.The truth is that North America is
a quilt of different political backgrounds and heritages. Some
of these are strong and storied. Others are emerging or
evaporating.
The Electoral Map
Quilted North America
Posted by Patrick Ottenhoff
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin,
of a California-based economic research group, describes the
city as "sort of the poster child of out-of-scale ideas." He and
others call for the conference to change its policies, its
direction, its operating style, its leadership — to do something
more than just talk about the region's precipitous decline.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Critics question nonprofit's focus, spending
By Ron DaParma and Mark Houser
Read the
Commentary
We've been around the block more than once. But leave it to
Pittsburgh's Allegheny Conference for Community Development to
bring us together. I could not agree more with Joel's assessment
of the group as "the poster child of out-of-scale ideas" in this
Tribune Review story. The Conference outlived its useful
life two decades ago. It's time to just get out of the way.
Richard Florida and the Creative Class Exchange
I Agree with Joel Kotkin
By Richard Florida
Read the
Commentary
We’ve
all lost things: our keys, glasses, coins in the couch. But
we’ve never lost 42,529 registered voters like the city of San
Francisco did between 2003 and the present — and they’re not in
the couch, because we’ve checked. San Francisco isn’t a
geographically vast city, but when you misplace enough people to
fill AT&T Park to capacity over four short years, something
screwy is going on.
San Francisco Weekly
The Snitch
Bring Out Your Dead: S.F.’s Swelled Voter Rolls Were Possibly
Stuffed With Stiffs
Just how the hell did the city lose 43,000 registered voters in
four years?
By Joe Eskenazi
Read the
Commentary
San
Francisco has become, in Kotkin’s words, “an ephemeral city.”
The black population has dropped precipitously and even the
Hispanic population is dwindling. At roughly 15 percent, San
Francisco has the lowest percentage of children of any city in
the United States. So who does live here? Well, San Francisco
enjoys the privilege of having the highest concentration of
privileged folks in all the land; Nowhere else in the U.S. has
such an astronomic percentage of inherited wealth
(“Trustafarians,” Kotkin calls them).
SFWeekly.com
Google and SF Gentrification: Stephen Elliott Needs to Read A
Book
Joel Kotkin, the nation’s top urban historian, explains how The
City got itself into this fine mess.
By Joe Eskenazi
Read the
Commentary
His
personal imprint looms over the city — the Museum of
Contemporary Art downtown, the completion of The Walt Disney
Concert Hall, the expansion and redesign of the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. Last month, his vision for a $2.5billion
Grand Avenue redevelopment cleared its final hurdle for
construction in a move that Broad believes will forever change
the city skyline and set a course for future development
downtown.
Los Angeles Daily News
Eli Broad has made his mark on L.A.
By Tony Castro
Read the
Commentary
Downtown
Los Angeles used to be a place you pointed to when you were in
the hills: 'There it is, those big buildings. No reason to go
down there,' " said Don Henley, the drummer who shares lead
singing duties in the Eagles, as he prepared backstage for
Thursday's performance. "What's going on now, here, is very
interesting. You're seeing downtown matter in new ways." Fans
may drive downtown for the Eagles, Kobe Bryant and shows like
"Avenue Q" — but will they want to live near these large venues
or even stay and walk around to experience other parts of
downtown?
Los Angeles Times
L.A. theater's effect an open question
Officials hope Nokia helps spur more growth and leisure activity
downtown. But some experts have doubts.
By Sharon Bernstein and Geoff Boucher
Read the
Commentary
Leveraging
the arts to redevelop what was once Philadelphia’s financial
district has taken a long time. According to Paul R. Levy,
president of the Center City District, a nonprofit business
improvement organization, the concept was discussed as far back
as the 1970s to remedy the problem of obsolete commercial
buildings on Broad Street south of City Hall. The classical
buildings, many of them banks, lost their usefulness as
commercial functions shifted north and west into modern office
buildings.
The New York Times
Square Feet
A Third Act for Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts
By Lisa Chamberlain
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin,
an expert on global, economic, political and social trends, said
Springfield and other small-to-midsize cities are in a position
to capitalize on America’s migration patterns, which indicate
preferences shifting to small towns. For instance, metropolitan
areas greater than 5 million people lost more than 2 million
residents between 2000 and 2004, while at the same time, cities
with populations less than half a million, Kotkin said, gained
500,000 people.
Springfield Business Journal
The Missing Demographic
Futurist tells Springfield leaders: Retain and recruit educated
youth
By Eric Olson
Read the
Commentary
From
a cultural standpoint, cities are becoming less interesting and
the suburbs are increasingly where the action is,” says Joel
Kotkin, author of The City: A Global History. “Partly because of
the freedom the Internet gives us, but also because cities have
become homogenized, inhospitable, and expensive beyond belief,
people now live by the ethos of ‘everywhere a city,’ even if
they’re in an outer ring, an outer-outer ring, or beyond.”
Details
Is it Time to Move to the Suburbs?
Homogeneous cities are making the cul de sac the new downtown.
PLUS: Our guide to the hippest ’burbs to live in.
By David Hochman
Read the
Commentary
Part
of your problem is an image problem,” said Joel Kotkin, an urban
scholar who has been working with the chamber for more than a
year on improving Salinas’ economy. Salinas residents need to
create a vision for their city in the coming decades, Kotkin
said, along with ideas on how to achieve — and pay for — their
plans. Sales tax is the city’s primary source of money for its
general fund.
The Salinas Californian
Experts: Salinas must create a clear identity, vision
By Dawn Withers
Read the
Commentary
S
o
the questions relevant to marketers would be about finding such
tribes and understanding how they coalesce, what they dictate
and do, and then how long they last. This isn't a new concept:
Joel Kotkin
wrote about it in 1994, basing his analysis of world history
and current events in terms of tribes based on nationalities.
He also predicted groupings based on religion, which did
anticipate one of the largest, most active tribes today
(Evangelicals).
Dimbulb Blog
Tribes, the Last Trend
By Jonathan Salem Baskin
Read the
Commentary
The
transformation of the mall is less revolutionary than
evolutionary. Almost no one builds malls anymore, or even calls
them that. Only one enclosed shopping mall was built in 2006,
according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and
none are planned for this year. Many old malls, meanwhile, have
added hotels, or residential developments have sprung up around
them.
The New York Times
National Perspectives
When Downtown Is in the Suburbs
By Lisa Selin Davis
Read the
Commentary
Joel
Kotkin, an expert on California's cities and a presidential
fellow at Chapman University in Orange, said the cooling housing
market makes dense residential developments difficult to carry
out."There were assumptions that came out of the housing bubble
that people would run out of land, and they would have no choice
but to buy a dense product," he said. "But if the market goes
down, there are a lot of foreclosed houses that are on sale for
cheap. It would not make sense for a homebuyer to buy a new,
expensive condo when they could purchase a foreclosed home for
half the price, Kotkin said.
The Press-Enterprise
Housing slump hurts San Bernardino's downtown plans
By Josh Brown
Read the
Commentary
Light rail and bike paths are but two examples of the current
push to shape Houston in the vision of urban planners and civic
leaders who hate Houston's now 171-year tradition of organic
growth. A debate on such matters has been carried out in this
newspaper since urban expert Joel Kotkin told the Greater
Houston Partnership early this summer that Houston's embrace of
free-market planning was a great example for other cities.
Outsiders like Kotkin seem to have a pretty good view of
Houston's workings these days, perhaps even better than its
residents.
Houston Chronicle - Editorial
Viewpoints, Outlook
Make it a bike trail and spare us from light rail
By Roy R. Reynolds
Read the
Commentary
Urban
analyst Joel Kotkin, in a recent Wall Street Journal
essay, related the experience of other metro areas with light
rail systems that have "minuscule ridership but consume a
disproportionate share of transit funds that might go to more
cost-efficient systems, including bus-based rapid transit." That
is precisely the outlook for the proposed regional system here.
It would eat the major share of the $38 billion, over 20 years,
to be allocated to the Sound Transit-RTID package, which
neglects vital bus transit, bridge and highway needs. Yet
corporate sponsors are heedlessly backing the scheme, which
would further snarl transportation and harm the economy.
Seattle Post- Intelligencer
Opinion
Judgments too often made on personalities
By Ted Van Dyk
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Commentary
Creating
the world's longest arboretum — an endeavor that may take a
couple of decades to implement — will go a long way toward
helping us appreciate our greatest natural asset. The arboretum
can help redefine Atlanta — providing a magnet like Boston's
Arnold Arboretum — to visitors and residents alike.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Blank Foundation helps keep Beltline in the shade
By Maria Saporta
Read the
Commentary
On
key economic indicators like income growth and job creation, the
city differs little from other ex-industrial cities in
Massachusetts, according to a series of recent studies. Poverty
in Lowell has gone up substantially since 1980. And despite its
"renaissance" reputation, empty storefronts still dot Market
Street, one of downtown's main drags. Lowell's national
reputation is fading, say urban planners and community
development analysts, as the city's impressive face lift has
failed to yield the expected gains for the working class.
Boston Globe
What renaissance?
Lowell has achieved national fame for its turnaround. But the
revival is overrated, analysts argue, and now cities are looking
for new models.
By Alan Wirzbicki
Read the
Commentary
Today's new convention center generates great TV coverage for
politicians on opening day. And it costs taxpayers only five
cents for every dollar spent. The other 95 cents, plus interest,
is transferred to future taxpayers via long-term bonds.
Wall Street Journal
How to Keep Our Cities Up and Running
Read the
Commentary
We
have to look at manufacturing in a somewhat different way than
we have. Even somebody who's going to work in, let's say, an
auto plant today, going forward is going to be more skilled
because you're going to have more robots; it's going to be more
computerized. So it's kind of misleading to look at
manufacturing as a low-skilled industry. There are pockets of
that. But those are the industries that are either being
automated or they are really having a hard time holding on.
INTERVIEW WITH JOEL KOTKIN
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Debunking industrial myths
By Bill Steigerwald
Read the
Commentary
Let me simply point out that the tens of millions of local
tax dollars that city and county officials are spending to
extend the River Walk north and south of downtown will benefit
virtually all tourists who come to town and virtually none of
the city/county taxpayers from whose pockets the money is
coming. Clearly that money could (and should) come from
hotel/motel tax revenue, leaving tens of millions of local
dollars to be spent on roads, bridges, drainage systems and
other desperately needed improvements to the city's "back to the
basics" infrastructure.
San Antonio Express-News
Business
Roddy Stinson:
'Surprise! The Spurs need more money to pay for their dream
list'
Read the
Commentary
If
much of the city of 4 million is already congested from dawn to
late evening, what will it be like with 5 million people? If
there are too few parks, schools and public facilities now, what
will it be like then? If there's already too many poor people
and not enough good jobs, will a city of high-rises and
gridlocked streets afford more people good opportunities in the
future?
Los Angeles Daily News
Density madness
City Hall wants taller buildings, not a better city
Read the
Commentary
Jobs
are growing at the top and bottom for many reasons. But those
factors can be summed up in a word — globalization.
California lost 464,700 manufacturing jobs — many of them
paying middle-class wages — between 1990 and 2006, much of
that work moving overseas. Meanwhile, the service sector boomed.
The category includes low-paid jobs, such as retail clerks, and
well-paid jobs, such as lawyers and accountants. ....Other
trends are intensifying the income gap. California has lots of
immigrants willing to accept low-wage jobs. Fewer of the state's
workers belong to trade unions, which historically have given
workers bargaining power.
San Francisco Chronicle
Surprise: The rich get richer and the poor get more numerous
By Sam Zuckerman
Read the
Commentary
The
irony is that Los Angeles is seeking to create a Times Square
just as New Yorkers complain that theirs has become Disney-fied,
that is, taken over by a Burbank, Calif., company. New Yorkers
also complain that Fifth Avenue has been taken over by so many
chain stores that it looks like the Century City mall in Los
Angeles. Tribeca is blessed with an annual film festival that
fills the city with people who look like characters in the movie
"The Player."
New York Sun
Editorial
The Manhattanizing of L.A.
Read the
Commentary
When's the last time you read somebody bemoaning the "de-agrification
of America"? And who will say that it would be a bad thing if,
over the next few decades, we're able to get ever more value out
of manufacturing with fewer people as long as overall
unemployment stays low?
NewsBusters.org
Busting the 'Deindustrialization' Myth
By Tom Blumer
Read the
Commentary
Wake
is a county in transition. In the past 20 years, it has evolved
from a sleepy bedroom community to a national biotech hub and a
magnet for health research. Across the county, farms are being
replaced by clusters of town houses, and woods are being cleared
for office parks.
National Journal
Is North Carolina the New Virginia?
By Patrick Ottenhoff
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin said it's become common for older, smaller malls to be
replaced by larger new properties, leaving behind empty store
spaces. "They devour each other over time," he said. "Part of
what happens is that a retail form that may have been on the
cutting edge 20 years ago, 25 years ago gets replaced by
something new. The retailer wants to be in the spiffier, newer
mall. "The national retailer doesn't really have a commitment to
a place, they just want the sales. There's no emotional
attachment."
The Huntsville Times
Bridge Street's gain to be felt elsewhere
Retailers' exodus to new development may open space in other
centers
By Gina Hannah
Read the
Commentary
Yes, the kind of apartments encouraged by the council might
be suitable for a single person, and it's unlikely overcrowding
will lead to the sort of epidemics Shaw warned about. But
inevitably the location and desire to reduce the amount paid for
rent will entice whole families, or several families, to crowd
into these Lilliputian residences, and the predictable results
will include squalor, crime and other hazards that haven't
changed much since "Crazy Shaw" warned about them.
Los Angeles Times
Crazy Shaw's' sound advice
A colorful figure from L.A.'s past hated overdevelopment, and
he's still right.
By Ralph E. Shaffer
Read the
Commentary
Phoenix,
according to the London-based Economist magazine, is a
"crime-ridden mess." Well, they used to like us. The
Economist has written about Phoenix many times before,
usually noting all the "All-America City" designations the city
has earned and cooing about the efficiency of Phoenix
governance. All that's changed, alas. In the eyes of London,
we've tanked.
Arizona Republic
Hit piece on Phoenix
Read the
Commentary
If
cost of living were not a factor, Kotkin admits that many people
would prefer living in the country's most attractive big cities.
But those cities have priced themselves out of the market for
middle-class Americans, which is where most of the population
growth will occur. The lesson for metro areas such as Atlanta is
to create communities where the majority of people can afford to
live. And that's one reason why Kotkin does not see the
back-to-the-city movement with high-rise residential towers as
being a long-term, sustainable trend.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Ideal metro Atlanta: Livable, affordable, green
By Maria Saporta
Read the
Commentary
The
ambitious plan, steered by the New Orleans Building Corporation,
a city agency led by Cummings, comes at a time when much of the
city is still rebuilding from the catastrophic flooding
unleashed by Hurricane Katrina. It has sparked a recurring
debate here among residents: How to rebuild New Orleans without
losing the sultry flair and grit that made this city famous?
USA Today
Plans for rebuilding Big Easy cause unease
By Rick Jervis
Read the
Commentary
Since
1950, 93 percent of metropolitan population growth has been in
the suburbs. If a community can't offer a suburban home, a yard
and a short work commute, residents tend to seek jobs elsewhere.
To discourage out-migration from Anchorage-Eagle River to the
Mat-Su valleys and to prepare for future growth, the city might
well consider making more land available for housing,
transportation and commerce.
Anchorage Daily News
Make Anchorage an opportunity city
By Paula Easley
Read the
Commentary
The
tiny units — studios that officials hope would be as small as
250 square feet — are part of a package of proposed zoning
changes aimed at significantly increasing density in downtown
L.A. The rules would apply to the roughly five miles around
downtown but could eventually be extended elsewhere in the city.
Los Angeles Times
An L.A. big enough for tiny apartments
Planners propose units as small as 250 square feet. After all,
New York and Paris have them.
By Sharon Bernstein
Read the
Commentary
I
first came in contact with Joel Kotkin when he wrote in the
1990s that Houston's inner city revitalization was the best in
the nation. He liked that it emphasized fundamentals, safety
infrastructure, and that we undertook to capitalize on its
diversity, not treating it as a problem. He understood the
city's cultural and environment improvements added to the
retention rate and quality of life. Over the years since he has
consistently believed in and praised Houston.
Houston Chronicle
Viewpoints, Outlook
We mostly agree on Houston's future
By Bob Lanier
Read the
Commentary
What
worries Kotkin is the economics of the city. "What's happening
is the grass-roots is really lost with public money going to big
developers," Kotkin said. "And, I might be out of my mind, but I
think investing in the downtown market is absurd. I think some
of the things we're building will have no market — and what
happens then?"
Los Angeles Daily News
Mayor's review in
At midpoint of term, Antonio receives mixed marks for setbacks,
small gains
By Rick Orlov
Read the
Commentary
For
decades, the cultures of organizations like LAUSD and the Los
Angeles Police Department have rejected the idea of the public
as customer — treating them instead with indifference,
insensitivity and intimidation. The LAPD's most recent display
of that persistent "cowboy mentality" occurred when officers
fired rubber bullets into a May Day crowd that included women
and children at MacArthur Park.
Los Angeles Daily News
LAUSD tries for nice
Brewer responds to complaints of rudeness
By Naush Boghossian
Read the
Commentary
Thanks
mostly to its lack of coal and heavy industry, California is a
relatively clean state. If it were a country it would be the
world's eighth-biggest economy, but only its 16th-biggest
polluter. Its big problem is transport—meaning, mostly, cars and
trucks, which account for more than 40% of its greenhouse-gas
emissions compared with 32% in America as a whole.
The
Economist
Environmental policy
Arnie's uphill climb
California's confident approach to climate change has inspired
America and the world. But things do not look so good in the
state itself
Read the
Commentary
Let’s
say you’re a young person and you’ve lived in L.A. or the Bay
Area, and then you move to a suburb of Sacramento. You buy a
house and start sending your kids to public schools and join a
church. You might not go from radical left to radical right. But
you might go from very liberal to a little more circumspect
liberal, because your circumstances have changed, your neighbors
have changed."
Prosper Magazine
Think: Joel Kotkin
The Third California
By Harrison Sheppard
Read the
Commentary
Some
black people are just too busy embracing diversity rather than
embracing their blackness first. Who, other than black folks, do
you hear promoting "diversity" and allowing themselves to be
called "minorities?" When is the last time you heard an Italian
person denounce the "Little Italy" communities across this
country? When have you seen Chinese people decry China Towns?
When have you heard Hispanics say, "Down with La Raza, we are
one America?" Trying to run away from who we are is
embarrassing, unconscionable and cowardly. It also speaks
volumes about our selfhate.
Frost Illustrated
Running away from blackness
Blackonomics
By James Clingman
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin
makes an interesting argument. “Superstar cities” like New York
and San Francisco have become too expensive for middle class
people and in the future will cater largely to the upper classes
and to those who serve them. Instead, the model for America's
future are the so-called "opportunity cities” like Fort Worth,
Dallas, Austin, Charlotte, Atlanta and Phoenix.
The Caravan of Dreams - Blog
Musings on "Opportunity Urbanism"
By Steve-O
Read the
Commentary
Joel Kotkin's classic book "The City" noted the "influx of
immigrants" who were "recruited to Europe during the labor
shortages of the 1950s and 1960s" who have become "an
increasingly angry and sometimes violent element in what long
had been remarkably peaceful urban areas."
Townhall.com
A Home Invader Program?
By Thomas Sowell
Read the
Commentary
Houston,
like every big city, and the country in general, has a huge
class problem evolving. In other words, that we have an
increasingly sophisticated technological society which is also
exporting a lot of the blue-collar jobs and even some of the
mid-level white-collar jobs, and so there are a lot of people
who are going to have trouble reaching the middle-class American
Dream. Now, that dream is closer in Houston because of the
[housing] costs than it is in a lot of cities, and that’s a good
thing.
Houston Press
City of Angels
By Richard Connelly
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin’s
charge to invest in the community so that it comes back to the
community through education that includes skills and trades, and
infrastructure that includes schools and neighborhoods is
aligned with our mission in Madison County to help all of our
citizens achieve and sustain self-sufficiency. We can lead the
way.
The Herald Bulletin
Our opportunity to lead
By Nancy Taylor
Read the
Commentary
Southern
California with its wide mix of races and ethnicities is unique
in the opportunity presented to employers to create diverse
workplaces. According to state statistics, the population of Los
Angeles County was estimated to hit 10.2 million in 2006. Of
that number, more than 7 million are Hispanics, Asians, Pacific
Islanders, African American or Native American. About 150,000
were estimated to be multi-racial. Seeing those numbers makes it
understandable why ... author and urban historian Joel Kotkin
said that in Los Angeles diversity programs are a “hangover from
a different era.”
San Fernando Valley Business Journal
Do Well-Intended Programs Suffer During Tough Times?
By Mark R. Madler
Read the
Commentary
A new study shows that "Dallas, along with Houston, Phoenix,
Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., offer America's most compelling
model for urban greatness." ...a pretty fascinating read from
Los Angeles-based global trend temperature-taker Joel Kotkin,
Dallas Observer Blog
Dallas, You're an "Opportunity City"
Urban trends expert Joel Kotkin thinks Dallas has it going on.
Houston too. And Atlanta. Charlotte also. But, still, Dallas,
you're awesome.
By Robert Wilonsky
Read the
Commentary
From
the lofty perspective of his mid-Manhattan office tower, Brown
looked out and saw not the hip and happening center of the
universe but a personal and financial dead end. Seven years in a
small apartment with a savings account that never seems to grow
will do that. "Something needed to change," said Brown, who
worked in human resources and staffing for an
information-technology firm. "I didn't think in New York I could
obtain the American dream of owning a house and having money in
the bank."
Houston Chronicle
Houston gets expert advice on what kind of city to be
Urban historian says pro-business stance still works, but
professor calls lifestyle new No. 1
By Mike Snyder and Mike Tolson
Read the
Commentary
Houston is one of five U.S. cities
offering the most compelling model for urban greatness,
according to a study by Joel Kotkin called “Opportunity
Urbanism: An Emerging Paradigm for the 21st Century.” Kotkin
says cities like Houston will be successful because they are
approaching the future with a mind to providing broad-based
opportunities for the masses, rather than simply catering to the
elite.
Houston Public Radio
Tuesday PM June 5th, 2007
Houston growth approach lauded by Joel Kotkin in urban report...
By Ed Mayberry
Read the
Commentary
Maine
is going to keep getting older on average and could receive more
federal dollars for health care, so why not make a virtue of a
necessity? "Because of its rapid growth in rural areas, health
care employment offers the most attractive opportunities for
young people to stay in the region..."
Bangor Daily News
Graduating to a federal payment
By Todd Benoit
Read the
Commentary
In my current work in NYC, for example, we are suggesting that
more employment shift to the outer boroughs, through
entrepreneurial development, satellite offices or work at home.
Queens and Staten Island have among the longest commutes in the
country. In most other cities outside NY this decentralization
is taking place but not to the extent that would make sense. It
will come: the next generation will not put up with an hour's
commute to go from one computer to another."
CBS News - Couric
& Co.
Interview with Joel Kotkin
10 Questions: City Life
Posted by Katie Couric
Read the
Commentary
Last year, the Los Angeles Times ranked him the sixth
most powerful person in Southern California, right behind the
leader of 5 million Roman Catholics, Cardinal Roger Mahony, head
of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. "Southern California has more
than its share of absentee landlords. Few, however, have had as
much impact as Anschutz," the newspaper said.
Denver Post
Anschutz forges glittering L.A. empire
By Tom McGhee
Read the
Commentary
What
accounts for Florida's entrepreneurial status? After all, the
state is known for its shortage of corporate headquarters and
large-scale manufacturing. Startup money in the form of venture
capital usually passes the state by. Those deficiencies don't
sting like they used to: Small businesses, including
work-from-home startups, account for about three-quarters of all
new jobs.
St. Petersburg Times
Florida's job engine chugging along
More than a dozen Florida cities scored high marks in Inc.
magazine's annual Boomtown ranking of the hottest cities for
entrepreneurs. The list, which is based on job creation, shows
Florida remains a productive job generator.
By James Thorner
Read the
Commentary
When home buyers began spilling into the county from the
South Bay, community leaders figured companies such as Intel and
Cisco would move operations here to follow the labor force. But
a study of workers in Los Banos, at the western edge of the
county, dispelled that notion. The Bay Area transplants were
mostly low- and midlevel service workers seeking affordable
housing, not engineers and R&D types.
Modesto Bee
Going bust in the valley
Housing boom didn't spawn hoped for high-wage economy
By Dale Kasler and Jim Wasserman, The Sacramento Bee
Read the
Commentary
In Ventura County and in California overall, "everything
seems to be edging toward a socially liberal but economically
conservative" population, said Joel Kotkin, a Los Angeles-based
leading scholar on urban growth and political demographics. "You
now have the inner city and the affluent suburbs voting the same
way."
The Politico
County reflects Calif. mood swing
By: David Mark
Read the
Commentary
The
agency needs to close an operating deficit brought about largely
by the $1.3 billion spent in the last decade on buying buses and
adding service while keeping fares low to comply with a federal
consent decree. Transit officials agreed to the decree in 1996
to settle a civil rights lawsuit with bus riders. A federal
judge permitted the decree to expire last year, ruling that
"quality of life has improved for Los Angeles' public transit
dependent poor population."
Los Angeles Times
MTA fare hike may not be the ticket
Experts warn an increase could hurt ridership and low-income
riders.
By Rong-Gong Lin II and Francisco Vara-Orta
Read the
Commentary
Savannah's
job growth has been huge, going from 2.9 percent in 2004-2005 to
3.4 percent," said Joel Kotkin, economic development analyst and
Inc. contributing editor. "Strong growth suggests that an
economy is expanding - which means plenty of opportunity."
Savannah's business climate is particularly well balanced, he
said - strong in manufacturing, professional business services,
information technology and wholesale trade. "When you have
growth in these kinds of industries, you're in pretty good shape
for the future," Kotkin said.
Savannah Morning News
Savannah makes Inc. magazine's top 10 'boomtowns' list
By Mary Carr Mayle
Read the
Commentary
The report said strong growth in Texas was attributed to
relatively low business costs, a rebounding technology sector
and a thriving energy sector which is attracting a new cadre of
highly paid professionals to increasingly sophisticated
high-tech businesses. Kotkin said that while cities such as
Austin are experiencing rapid job growth, like many other cities
the cost of living is prohibitive for many people.
Houston Business Journal
Inc. ranking shows Houston has good business sense
By Christine Hall
Read the
Commentary
while
Florida had a major presence on the list, Kotkin said he
wondered whether the residential real estate market's downturn
would affect the economy. "That's my only question about
Florida," Kotkin said. "I would suspect that Florida will lose
some of its momentum because of the housing bubble."
TCPalm
Treasure Coast a business hot spot, study says
By Robert Barba
Read the
Commentary
Reports
of Boomers migrating "back to the city" or "back to nature" or
anywhere, for that matter, are greatly exaggerated. Most Boomers
retire in place. Of all suburbanites over age 50 who move, most
(80%) move to another suburban home, almost 8 times the number
that bought in the inner city. More than half of city-dwellers
who moved headed out to suburbia. Only 2% cross state lines
every year.
Housing Musings - Blog
It's Okay if you Really Don't Want to Move into the City
By Cynthia Maloney
Read the
Commentary
By
the end of the year, the company expects to begin demolition for
the first phase of a $2.05 billion mixed-use project along Grand
Avenue, opposite the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Designed by the
concert hall’s architect, Frank Gehry, the Grand Avenue
development will echo the Time Warner Center in some respects —
the plans call for a five-star 275-room Mandarin Oriental Hotel,
luxury condominiums, restaurants run by celebrity chefs and an
upscale food market. But it is also expected to feature terraces
and rooftop gardens to take advantage of the mild climate.
The
New York Times
Square Feet
In Los Angeles, a Gehry-Designed Awakening
By Terry Pristin
Read the
Commentary
Labour policies created in the 1970s to attract foreign labour
are now serving GCC nations poorly. Essentially, cheap imported
labour undercuts the need to invest in more capital-intensive
processes which would hoist productivity. That has dropped by as
much as 20 to 35 per cent over the past decade, including in
construction where productivity is only one-quarter of that in
the United States.
Gulf News.com
Sculpting Dubai's workforce
By Dr. Rod Monger
Read the
Commentary
Is
Tracy poised for the next decade’s regional economic growth when
noted economist John Husing’s three-stage “dirt theory” plays
out here as it has in other parts of California? In doing so,
Tracy is tracing the pattern of Orange County of the 1950s and
’60s and Santa Clara Valley and Tri-Valley of the 1980s and
’90s.
Tracy Press
Press editorial
Ready or not, Tracy’s new economy will emerge
Read the
Commentary
Cr
Christensen evoked the words of American urban planner Joel
Kotkin who once said cities whose councils neglected the
"basics" in favour of expensive projects died. "I call them the
frilly bits," Cr Christensen said. "They're nice to have but not
essential. Roads and drains are the basics and if (the Bluewater
Quay) is going to impact ratepayers, all the facts should be on
the table."
The Daily Mercury
City's $12m wharf project approved despite debate
Read the
Commentary
High-priced
real estate forced many families to flee coastal urban areas and
pursue their dreams inland during the past decade. Inland
California "represents not so much a break with the California
dream, but its new homeland, the state of opportunity for a new
generation."
Los Angeles Times
Inland areas called key to state's future
The vast, fast-growing regions need a strong economy and
solutions to environmental problems, study says.
By Gary Polakovic
Read the
Commentary
In
the rush to build some downtown fantasy, we should be careful
not to destroy the things about downtown that actually work,"
said Joel Kotkin, an urban planner who has written extensively
about L.A.'s economy. "The industrial stuff actually works: It
employs a lot of people, there's a low vacancy rate, and being
at the center of a transportation hub really matters."
Los Angeles Times
Developers, industry battle for L.A.'s heart
By Cara Mia DiMassa
Read the
Commentary
As
pointed out to me by one of our astute staff members at Prairie
Business, micropolitan areas are rapidly becoming the brightest
star in the development constellation. Identified as an urban
cluster of 10,000-50,000 people, micro counties now account for
three-fifths of the total non-metro population and about one in
10 Americans now live in micropolitan areas.
Prairie Business
Magazine
The shape of things to come
If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us
out? ~Will Rogers
(1879-1935)
By Rick Killion
Read the
Commentary
He
challenged the assumption that America's "elite" cities — New
York, San Francisco, Boston — hold an edge, in terms of
potential to attract the most talented workers and most
desirable businesses. While those cities are economic, cultural
and entertainment hubs that appeal to the highly affluent,
Kotkin points out that the high cost of living — specifically,
housing — in those places have priced out a large segment of
America's workers, who, while not rich, are desirable residents,
many of whom are no less smart and no less entrepreneurial than
those with the highest incomes.
The Ground Floor - Blog
Superstar Cities Losing their Shine?
By Trish Riggs
Read the
Commentary
In
an earlier era, a candidate without thick local roots would have
been at a distinct disadvantage trying to climb onto a national
stage without a base of regional supporters, fellow politicians
and donors. These days, the opposite may be true: Politicians
with a muted geographical identity may be better positioned to
compete in parts of the country — including fast-growing swing
states like Nevada and Florida — where most folks are
originally from somewhere else.
The Politico -Blog
2008 Field Sprouts Rootless Candidates
By: Jonathan Martin
Read the
Commentary
Back
in the boom days of the 1990’s, Silicon Valley, seat of the
greatest explosion of innovation in the world, attracted a host
of imitators. Suddenly, there was a plethora of pandering,
puerile attempts to use – and abuse – the term “silicon”. First
there was Silicon Alley, a play on the geography of New York, a
tribute to the edginess of the down market district that was
about to become home to a tribe of digerati. Silicon Prairie,
Silicon Fen, Silicon Mountain and other such monikers followed.
They sought to suggest a “follow the leader” identity, but often
became little more than wannabe prescriptions of a “tech
cluster” focus that itself became the story.
The Next Wave of Innovation -Blog
What's in a place?
Posted by Rohit Shukla
Read the
Commentary
Since it first appeared in 2005, [Kotkin’s ] book’s gotten
attention in public policy circles, and it might have special
relevance in south Louisiana, where the rebuilding of New
Orleans and the changing demographics of Baton Rouge have lent
new urgency to the question of how cities are supposed to work.
The recent arrival of Kotkin’s book in paperback — and a
prominent review of the book in The Weekly Standard — promises
to give Kotkin’s views a renewed profile.
The Baton Rouge Advocate
Our Views: Note basics of civic health
Read the
Commentary
Eli
has this notion that a great city must have a dynamic downtown,
and that's what a city lives by," says Joel Kotkin of the New
America Foundation in Washington, D.C., and author of The City:
A Global History. "Yet he has been living in one of the greatest
cities in the world, and it's the exact opposite. L.A. is a
multipolar city, and the notion that you can create New York in
the middle of it without understanding the context is a mistake.
He's in denial."
U.S.News & World Report
L.A. Rainmaker
Billionaire Eli Broad wants nothing less than to remake his
adopted city
By Betsy Streisand
Read the
Commentary
Ever since the emergence of the
first proto-cities in the Middle East more than five millennia
ago, human beings have been congregating in progressively larger
and more complex communities to carry out their daily business.
And although this increasing urban concentration has created
more than its share of problems, it has also served as a crucial
spur to human creativity and accomplishment. "From the earliest
beginnings," Kotkin points out, cities "have been the places
that generated most of mankind's art, religion, culture,
commerce, and technology."
FYI - Two books on urbanism
Urban Sociology Blog
Read the
Commentary
Kotkin
said the cost of living in Hampton Roads isn't as high as it is
in many other U.S. cities. That, he said, would make this region
attractive to the middle class, young families and first-time
entrepreneurs. Cities such as New York, San Francisco and
Washington, D.C. — where the cost of living is very high — have
little job or population growth because people just can't afford
to live there, Kotkin said. "Companies are moving to midsize
cities because they can't afford to hire" in big, expensive
cities, he said.
Hampton Roads Daily Press
Author: Region on way to being 'dynamic'
Joel Kotkin urges economic officials to make Hampton Roads a
place where people "believe their life will be better."
By Cynthia H. Cho
Read the
Commentary
