We are all familiar with the narrative: A once-flourishing American city flush with middle-class jobs, a thriving industry, and vibrant neighborhoods experiences a protracted loss of jobs and residents. Cities like Detroit and Buffalo, often referred to as legacy cities and mostly scattered throughout the Midwest and Northeast, are characterized by abandoned steel mills and […]
Posts Tagged ‘USA’
Love Your Block Unites Communities in Legacy Cities
Democracy in America?
One of the first, and definitely most famous, observers of American democratic institutions saw in local government one of the key pillars to the newly established democratic system. Alexis de Tocqueville was impressed by New England townships’ degree of self-government. Today, almost two centuries after Tocqueville’s essay was published, it may be time to conclude […]
Letter from America: The F Word, Watch a City Die because of the Mismatch between the City and the Functional Urban Area
The urban news in America has been dominated by three stories. First, the not guilty verdict on George Zimmerman the killer of Trayvon Martin. Second, Anthony Wiener’s predilection for sexting – he was the front runner for the democrats to get the nomination in the New York mayoral race and third the city of Detroit going into […]