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Geographical Imaginations and Migration
Talking about Creative Class migration influences migration. Austin is the prototype of cool, an urban ideal. The Austin school of planning and development:Austin is widely seen as the epitome of what might be termed a hometown/boomtown ideal in...
Creative Class Chic Is Dying
Out: Portland. In: Pittsburgh. Over the next few weeks, we will read dozens of articles describing what we will leave behind in 2012 and what 2013 portends. Portland, Oregon is the past. Pittsburgh is the future. But that was 2011/2012. For 2012/...
More Ascendant Pittsburgh
I'm going to let Pittsburgh bask in the spotlight a while longer. At Free Exchange (Economist), Ryan Avent touting Texas:Click on the link to zoom in on the graph. Yes, a bunch of Texas metros sitting at the top for job growth (% change for December...
Global Return Migration: Krakow
Back in October, The Christian Science Monitor Weekly did a feature titled, "The Great Brain Gain." I missed it because I've been busy researching a story developing in San Antonio. The similarities are striking. It is a global trend that...
Rust Belt Chic Development
What would Rust Belt Chic urban planning look like? Let's start with what it doesn't look like. Cleveland's University Circle district:In a recent piece on this website about Cleveland’s University Circle district, just as one example, writer Mark...
Is social media the new city - a tabula rasa without need for social capital?
Update: Coincidentally, Next American City serves up some evidence that is a counterargument to my position.**********************Subsidizing home ownership in the city is a bad idea. Among urban renewal policy wonks, conventional wisdom holds...
Creative Class Flat World Geography
A feature of Creative Class migration is the agglomeration of talent in a few cities. The world is spiky, not flat. (Read an academic paper that digs into the debate between Richard Florida (Spiky) and Thomas Friedman (Flat) here.) High rent be...
New Economic Geography Of Tech Talent
Within the Rust Belt, there is a great divergence. Urban Milwaukee took a look at the brain drain issue for that metro. Steve Filmanowicz commenting on the disparity of college educational attainment rates between city and suburb: All of...
Hot Pittsburgh Real Estate Market
Shrug off the population estimates. Wait for better migration numbers. But pay attention to two things in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The first is the size of the workforce. With each passing month, another record falls. The region is enjoying...
Mystery Of Declining Geographic Mobility
US geographic mobility is declining. Why? Ryan Avent (Free Exchange) summarizes the findings of a Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis report:This homogenisation reflects the rising importance of “non-tradable” work. As the name suggests, non-...
Rust Belt Chic Migration
Understanding why the Creative Class flocks to Boulder or Portland is easy. What about Niagara Falls? The attraction:“More than just the monetary incentive … it would be cool to work at a place where these ideas are actually coming out of City...
Salad Days In Des Moines
Turning around your city is a tough chore. Yesterday's bad news fuels the pessimists. With scarce inmigration, each person who leaves is magnified. Yet when the perception does change, the rebound gathers steam quickly. See Des Moines, Iowa: The...
