The Economist (May 30)
Amid the global fanfare over urbanization, “another pressing urban dilemma” is being overlooked: “what to do with cities that are losing people.” Germany, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea all have shrinking cities. Before long, China will too. To avoid blight, one of the best policies is to “return the land to nature” by knocking down old structures. Urban “planners are expert at making cities work better as they grow. Keeping them healthy as they shrink is just as noble.”
Tags: Blight, China, Germany, Japan, Planners, Shrinking cities, South Korea, Structures, U.S., Urbanization
Detroit Free Press (December 3, 2013)
Detroit became the biggest municipality—in fact the biggest public entity of any type—to file for bankruptcy in the U.S. after a federal judge approved the city’s application. With estimated debts of $18 billion, the city is hardly functioning. It takes nearly an hour for police to respond to calls, versus about six times longer than the national average. For many, the bankruptcy filing marks the first painful step to a comeback. Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr hopes to achieve improvements in basic services and the removal of 78,000 blighted homes and structures within three years. “That may sound like elementary stuff to people who are used to living in less-dysfunctional cities. In Detroit after decades of distress, however, it’s what dreams are made of.”
Tags: Bankruptcy, Basic services, Blight, Comeback, Debts, Detroit, Distress, Dreams, Dysfunction, Kevyn Orr, Police, U.S.
