In the CityLab article “Inclusionary Zoning: Everything You Need to Know,” the authors state, “If you’ve hung around the CityLab site, sat through a City Council meeting, or hobnobbed with a housing developer, you’ve probably run across the term ‘inclusionary zoning.'” I have not, and suspect that many others haven’t either. It does appear to be a promising tool to produce affordable housing through the private market. The article is the pilot entry in the new “CityLab University,” a resource for “understanding some of the most important concepts related to cities and urban policy.”
Archive: Jul 2018
In “The Rise of ‘Urban Tech,'” urban planner Richard Florida argues, “from food-delivery startups to mapping and co-living companies, technology focused on urban systems is drawing billions of dollars in venture capital.” These “urban tech” firms are “unleashing a new round of creative destruction on cities. Like previous economic transformations, the rise of urban tech and the emergence of the city as the primary platform for economic organization will not be without growing pains. It will be up to urban leaders and the struggles of workers and citizens to channel this transformation in a democratic way, so that it respects the needs of all city dwellers and creates prosperity for all.” Vigilance is required.
In a May 2018 post I provided a link to a Pacific Standard story about the pros and cons of using more technology in the 2020 U.S. Census. I have recently encounter a CityLab story that presents a visual history of the U.S Census. The editors note,
The United States Justice Department is adding a highly contested citizenship question into the 2020 Census, which will likely lead to an undercount in places with undocumented workers and families. The political and social consequences of such an undercount in vulnerable communities would be significant and—as CityLab’s visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger reports—an all-too-familiar story.
The next U.S. Census is shaping up to be a very important one…as they have all been.
In my previous post I discussed bike sharing in Seattle. I must be closely tuned in to the Pacific Northwest lately, as the next interesting story I’d like to share is a PBS spotlight on Portland’s program to help African American families move back to areas of the city that they had to leave then gentrified. Check it out!
In “The Rise of ‘Urban Tech,'” urban planner Richard Florida argues, “from food-delivery startups to mapping and co-living companies, technology focused on urban systems is drawing billions of dollars in venture capital.” These “urban tech” firms are “unleashing a new round of creative destruction on cities. Like previous economic transformations, the rise of urban tech and the emergence of the city as the primary platform for economic organization will not be without growing pains. It will be up to urban leaders and the struggles of workers and citizens to channel this transformation in a democratic way, so that it respects the needs of all city dwellers and creates prosperity for all.” Vigilance is required.
In a May 2018 post I provided a link to a Pacific Standard story about the pros and cons of using more technology in the 2020 U.S. Census. I have recently encounter a CityLab story that presents a visual history of the U.S Census. The editors note,
The United States Justice Department is adding a highly contested citizenship question into the 2020 Census, which will likely lead to an undercount in places with undocumented workers and families. The political and social consequences of such an undercount in vulnerable communities would be significant and—as CityLab’s visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger reports—an all-too-familiar story.
The next U.S. Census is shaping up to be a very important one…as they have all been.
In my previous post I discussed bike sharing in Seattle. I must be closely tuned in to the Pacific Northwest lately, as the next interesting story I’d like to share is a PBS spotlight on Portland’s program to help African American families move back to areas of the city that they had to leave then gentrified. Check it out!