The biggest challenge for creating great cities is imagination, not technology There’s a definite technological determinism to how we approach future cities. Some combination of sensors, 5G Internet, sophisticated computing and a very centralized command infrastructure will inexorably lead to…
What City Observatory did this week 1. Closing the Kumbaya Gap. As we documented in our recent report, America’s Most Diverse, Mixed Income Neighborhoods, a growing number of cities boast neighborhoods with relatively high levels of both racial/ethnic and income…
Being a smart city should mean something different than a technology fetish The growing appreciation of the importance of cities, especially by leaders in business and science, is much appreciated and long overdue. Many have embraced the “smart city” banner.…
Portland’s City Council reversed its denial of one tall apartment building; we commend them Back in March, we were critical of a decision by the Portland City Council to deny approval of a 17-story apartment building in the city’s growing…
Integrated neighborhoods produce more mixing, but don’t automatically generate universal social interaction. What should we make of that? Our recent report, America’s Most Diverse, Mixed Income Neighborhoods identifies those places where people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and from…