Cities with the brightest future (employment, cost of, safe)

[rnc2mbfl]

We don't know what cities will emerge with the brightest futures in 75 years or so. But, we can begin to construct the sort of attributes that the cities will probably need to compete effectively on a national and global basis. There has been a lot of research around this issue and a zillion opinions. But, suffice it to say that the successful city of the future will probably have many of the following attributes:

1. Highly Educated Workforce (Creative Class)
2. Solid education system at all levels (primary thru university education)
3. Strong & identifiable urban neighborhoods
4. A strong transportation network
5. Appropriate cost of living to salary ratio
6. Outstanding recreational and leisure options
7. Highly developed Arts Scene
8. Global Cultural Diversity
9. Outstanding Health Care Resources
10. Progressive Social environment
11. Innovative Culture
12. Diversity of industry and opportunty
13. Access to natural resources (water especially)

Subjective differentiators (either + or -) might include:

1. Weather/Seasons
2. Scale (population)
3. Geographic proximity to other areas for business and leisure
4. Pollution levels
5. Religious atmosphere (Just ask the intellectual community in Tehran about this one!)

[stanman13]

I like this list. Let me apply it to Detroit, which I think could go either way in the next 30 years.

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

1. Highly Educated Workforce (Creative Class) Not really doing too badly here, but definitely could stand improvement.
2. Solid education system at all levels (primary thru university education) Good opportunities at the University level, but the primary system in Detroit is horrific on many levels.
3. Strong & identifiable urban neighborhoods Got it.
4. A strong transportation network As long as you have a car. We need to improve this.
5. Appropriate cost of living to salary ratio Doing well here.
6. Outstanding recreational and leisure options Also here.
7. Highly developed Arts Scene Pretty good, both historically and currently.
8. Global Cultural Diversity Detroit itself isn't particularly stong in this area, but if you take the Metro area as awhole, it's pretty good.
9. Outstanding Health Care Resources Yes.
10. Progressive Social environmentFair to middling.
11. Innovative Culture Historically good, needs work right now.
12. Diversity of industry and opportunty Um, right. We need help here.
13. Access to natural resources (water especially) Excellent! Arguably among the best in the nation.

Subjective differentiators (either + or -) might include:

1. Weather/Seasons Winter isn't as bad as you might think.
2. Scale (population) Floating somewhere around 900,000
3. Geographic proximity to other areas for business and leisure Good.
4. Pollution levels Not really sure compared to other cities, but not really too bad.
5. Religious atmosphere (Just ask the intellectual community in Tehran about this one!) Actually quite diverse in the Metro region. We have the largest Muslim population outside of the Middle East, as well as strong showings in the more "traditional" arenas.

If Detroit can address the problems we are having with #12, it can become one of the greatest cities in the nation.

[BPerone201]

Dallas and Atlanta are two biggies when you think of a city in the future that would have great growth. Atlanta has a good job market, and Dallas has been attracting people for the same reason, but it has lower crime than Atlanta.
But i think Atlanta awards the brighter future because the crime there will most likely decrease as more successful people move into the area.

Other cities that will have a bright future are,
Charlotte, Jersey City, Houston, Portland, Seattle, Detroit, Tampa, Chicago, and San Francisco

All for different reasons.

I know JC for a fact has a lot of room to grow, and that skyline is looking bigger and bigger every year; I've seen the new plans they have going up, and that city will be impressive one day. Trump is putting big complexes in there as well; It's also attracting more and more people into the job market, and it's also becoming safer, and more NYC commuters are choosing JC as the place to live... I think it might be noted as the most densely populated major city in the country one day.

[crystalblue]

Water is going to be a big issue for many places going forward, as we saw with the drought in the South recently.

I think Atlanta would def be near the top, if it had more water and better transit. dont know how they plan on addressing those two issues.

As for Texas, if it actually starts getting hotter, as predicted, that could have a huge negative effect there (same for florida).

I think some of the cities along the river will see a pick-up (Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Memphis, etc...)

[rnc2mbfl]

Raleigh is going to surprise a lot of people in years to come. It anchors the fastest growing metro in the nation and has one of the most educated populaces in the country. It's off of a lot of radars because of its current size (1.1 Million in the metro). But, I am serious...watch out for it.

[BPerone201]

Originally Posted by BPerone201

Dallas and Atlanta are two biggies when you think of a city in the future that would have great growth. Atlanta has a good job market, and Dallas has been attracting people for the same reason, but it has lower crime than Atlanta.
But i think Atlanta awards the brighter future because the crime there will most likely decrease as more successful people move into the area.

Other cities that will have a bright future are,
Charlotte, Jersey City, Houston, Portland, Seattle, Detroit, Tampa, Chicago, and San Francisco

All for different reasons.

I know JC for a fact has a lot of room to grow, and that skyline is looking bigger and bigger every year; I've seen the new plans they have going up, and that city will be impressive one day. Trump is putting big complexes in there as well; It's also attracting more and more people into the job market, and it's also becoming safer, and more NYC commuters are choosing JC as the place to live... I think it might be noted as the most densely populated major city in the country one day.

Whoops, I said JC like everybody should know what i mean.. Jersey City

[imaterry78259]

I believe that NOLA is a place to keep an eye on in the future> check out Entrepenural Magazine -August

[Nat of the ATL]

Originally Posted by uglyblackjohn

3-4 hours? Any drive over 2 hours requires a flight. 3-4 hours? That's the same drive as L.A. to Vegas.

I drive 3-4 hours on almost every vacation I go on.

[ffknight918]

Originally Posted by Nat of the ATL

I drive 3-4 hours on almost every vacation I go on.

I agree. I know guys that drive over 3 hours to commute to work. Of course out schedule here is 24 hours on/72 off in the FD, but it's still more often than a vacation and they don't complain.

3-4 is definitely fine with me. It gives me plenty of options: Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Virginia Beach, Richmond, Pittsburgh(cutting it close), Annapolis, etc.

[bryson662001]

Very few cities in the US are going anywhere any time in the future. Even the few basket cases like Detroit will survive.