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Only on City-Data are growth and decline linear. In reality, growth and decline happen simultaneously. Thus, every city is both growing and declining at the same time. Make this the "welcome to the real world" thread.
For the purpose of discussion, we'll define "growth" and "decline" as polar opposites with "growth" defined as heading in a good direction and "decline" as a poor one.
Choose any (all) city you are really familiar with and make three observations why this city is on the decline (trending downward). Follow this with three observations why the city is growing (trending upward).
Feel free to use this template:
CITY
Declining
• X
• X
• X
Growing
• X
• X
• X
as in...
MIDDLETOWN
Declining
• Two of Middletown's major employers, Indeco & Frank Industries, are exporting jobs to China
• Racial unrest in the north central neighborhoods is causing a spike in violence
• Through drought conditions, pollution, and overuse, the Middletown River is literally drying up; water supply threatened
Growing
• Expansion of Mid-To-Transit's light rail is extensive and improving connections throughout city
• MiddleCentre and The Overlook are two of the largest downtown developments in the last 30 years
• University of Middletown's rise in status generating huge growth in the medical field and creating growth in the U-Town neighborhood, in the process of becoming the city's second hub
Only on City-Data are growth and decline linear. In reality, growth and decline happen simultaneously. Thus, every city is both growing and declining at the same time. Make this the "welcome to the real world" thread.
For the purpose of discussion, we'll define "growth" and "decline" as polar opposites with "growth" defined as heading in a good direction and "decline" as a poor one.
Choose any (all) city you are really familiar with and make three observations why this city is on the decline (trending downward). Follow this with three observations why the city is growing (trending upward).
Feel free to use this template:
Milwaukee
Declining
• The city continues to lose population overall, in spite of population spikes downtown and in a few gentrified areas
• The city is among the most racially and economically segregated in the country, and the divide just gets worse and worse over time
• The city of Madison (just over an hour away), home to the flagship university and state capitol, is very prosperous and on the move. Its ascendancy has kind of been "stealing Milwaukee's thunder" a bit, and Madison can eventually become the state's primary city in the next few decades.
Growing
• There has been a "new urbanism" push to gentrify downtown and other neighborhoods with lofts, innovative restaurants, streetcar, etc. This suggests that if the city has been losing families and other traditional demographics, it is gaining in upscale young professionals, etc.
• Connected with the point above, there has been an increased awareness of the importance of the city's lakefront as a development zone. This has helped spark new projects and sort of a renewed pride in the city.
• Immigrants (mostly from Mexico/Central America, but also from Asia, Middle East, Africa) have taken up residence in parts of the city that had been left behind by second- and third-gen groups (mostly of European descent). These areas are among the most dynamic and vibrant in the city.
Looks like a pet project of unique personal interest only.
It would be helpful to explain why we need to be doing this.
Well, it wouldn’t be. And I have no plans to include this in my new book, Elevator Up, Escalator Down: A Tale of American cities.....unless I see Bob Woodwards book sells a lot of copies. Not to worry: I will cite any quote I use from this thread, you know, with the information in this tome is the result of my great in....SIGHT
Thoreau, I hope I didn’t catch you at 2:00 pm, pekking out the keys of your typewritter, trying desperately to come up with three good and three bad things to say about Walden Pond.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear: this was NOT a homework assignment. But I am happy to read any observations, like the excellent post about my city’s northern neighbor, Milwaukee, which, given it’s in the neighborhood.
As for me, I am comfortable of posting any thread you like (except “Charlottesville: Discuss the good people on both sides). And no problem if you assign homework: I have My Dog Ate note ready to go.
1. Densifying at a huge rate. The core city went from 486,000 in 1986 to 724,000 in 2017 per Census estimates. Downtown's current boom is like the last three booms combined.
2. Adding transit. We've been the only city to really gain ridership lately per some reports.
3. More international flights and tourism. Even before the new International Arrivals terminal at Sea-Tac provides the space we already need, we've gone from bad to ok in terms of international connections.
Negatives:
1. The homeless thing is out of hand. We need to fund more, but also enforce more.
2. The city is much more expensive than ever. It's hard to move in unless you have money or are happy with a smallish apartment.
3. Every form of transportation is strained to capacity -- roads, transit, even Sea-Tac. The last two are the focus for expansion.
1. Densifying at a huge rate. The core city went from 486,000 in 1986 to 724,000 in 2017 per Census estimates. Downtown's current boom is like the last three booms combined.
2. Adding transit. We've been the only city to really gain ridership lately per some reports.
3. More international flights and tourism. Even before the new International Arrivals terminal at Sea-Tac provides the space we already need, we've gone from bad to ok in terms of international connections.
Negatives:
1. The homeless thing is out of hand. We need to fund more, but also enforce more.
2. The city is much more expensive than ever. It's hard to move in unless you have money or are happy with a smallish apartment.
3. Every form of transportation is strained to capacity -- roads, transit, even Sea-Tac. The last two are the focus for expansion.
That would be very difficult. We got to 724,000 by filling in a large percentage of our zoned capacity. Mostly this is in the 15% of the city where real density is allowed. I don't have a source but we should be able to hit 800,000 pretty easily, but after that it'll take substantial upzones...particularly to the 2/3 of the city where only houses are allowed. We've only upzoned on a smaller scale. And frankly even the 800,000 figure will be despite fast-rising land prices (less availability).
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