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If the tech oligarchs can’t beat the bad press, they’ll just buy it
What’s an oligarch to do? The putative tech masters of the universe now face unprecedented criticism from both left and right. The reasons extend from wanton privacy invasions of the people once...
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Deconstructing “Yimbyism”
California’s housing crisis has emboldened grandstanding Sacramento politicians who measure their own “success” by the number of bills they can pass with their own names attached. We now have Scott...
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World Urban Areas: 1,064 Largest Cities: 2018 Update
This year, as in 2017, there are 37 megacities --- urban areas estimated to have more than 10 million residents. The 20 largest urban areas are indicated in Figure 1. Tokyo-Yokohama continued to be the...
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Is Mass Media Good or Bad For You and Your Family?
Since the internet, and particularly smartphones, became household commodities, mass media's impact on people and societies has increased exponentially.As you might expect, there is a swinging pendulum...
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Constitutional Localism Will Heal American Democracy
America is amid a period of intense stress on its political and governmental values and institutions. Two of the leading candidates for President in the last election said our politics was “rigged,”...
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Population Transformation in Pittsburgh and Chicago
Out of the 53 metro areas with more than a million people, only four lost population last year. The two biggest losers were Pittsburgh and Chicago.Both cities are ones where a significant cadre of...
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Suburbs Could End Up On the Cutting Edge of Urban Change
Over the past decade, the old urban model, long favored by most media and academia, became the harbinger of the new city. We were going back to the 19th century, with rising dense urban cores, greater...
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The High Speed Rail 2018 Business Plan – A Classic Model Of Deception
The California High Speed Rail Authority has released its 2018 Business Plan. It portends to finally reveal the true cost for construction of Phase I of the project. The new cost estimate is at a base...
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Boomers: Meet the Plurals
America is fascinated by the skill, pluck, and personal composure of the students from Parkland, Florida who survived the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day....
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Nashville’s Hopeless Rail Transit Proposal
Nashville is the 36th largest metropolitan area in the nation, having long since passed historic Tennessee leader Memphis. Nashville was the 10th fastest growing major metropolitan area in 2017. At the...
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Future Hubs of Africa and Asia
On UN projections between 2015 and 2050, the world population will grow by nearly 2.38 billion people, from 7.35 billion to 9.73 billion. Although this 32% growth is a big increase, it marks a slowdown...
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Shovel Ready
Many years ago I remember a television commentator saying more Americans have outhouses than computer connections. This was in the early days of dial up modems. He seemed to suggest that household...
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The End Of The ‘Libertarian Moment’
The decision by Speaker Paul Ryan to leave the House reflects the failings of our current flawed political configuration. Ryan may have been personally a cut above his critics on the right and left,...
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World Megacity Growth Lags – Smaller Cities Grow More
Never in history have so many people lived in urban areas (that is, outside rural areas). There are now 37 megacities (urban areas with more than 10 million residents) in the world, according to the...
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Eyes From the Street – The Neighbourhood Fabric That Matters
In the 50 plus years since Jane Jacobs coined the phrase “eyes on the street”, most planners have taken it as an article of faith. After all, some argue, it is common sense. But as we found out when...
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Neat, Plausible, and Wrong
The Antiplanner is frequently reminded of H.L. Mencken’s statement that “there is always a well-known solution to every human problem: neat, plausible, and wrong.” Millennials, for example, blame baby...
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Ten Infrastructure Projects We Should Actually Build
I have argued that the primary infrastructure need in the US is for maintenance, not new builds or expansion. But clearly building nothing new isn’t realistic, so what projects should we build and...
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Giving Common Sense a Chance in California
In California, where Governor Jerry Brown celebrates “the coercive power of the state” and advocates “brainwashing” for the unanointed, victories against Leviathan are rare. Yet last week brought just...
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The Midwest Is Booming—Just Not Where You Think
The Midwest is booming, but not where you might think. Kansas City, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Grand Rapids, and Des Moines are the fastest-growing cities in the Midwest—lapping bigger hubs...
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New Localism and Old Institutions
Last week I posted an article talking about the maturity curve, or the lifecycle arc from incubation to growth to maturity to decline that applies to so many things. And this weekend my review of Bruce...
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