Contents Preface ix 1 Green Initiatives, the Environment, and Natural Resources The Greening of American Cities 3 The Best Bike-Sharing Program in the United States 8 Tom Vanderbilt, Slate, January 7, 2013 Streetcorner Serenade for the Public Plaza 13 Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, May 31, 2013 Ten Urban Experiments That Your City Should Adopt 17 Sasha Abramsky, The Nation, March 4, 2015 New-Age Central Parks 23 Rutherford H. Platt and Peter Harnik, Planning, July 1, 2015 Aging Pipes Are Poisoning America’s Tap Water 30 Alana Semuels, The Atlantic, July 29, 2015 Climate Change Crusade Goes Local 35 Doug Struck, Christian Science Monitor, August 9, 2015 2 Cost of Living and Changing Demographics The Modern Urbanite 45 The End of the Suburbs 50 Leigh Gallagher, Time, July 31, 2013 Get Out of Town 53 Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker, June 27, 2011 Baby Boomtowns: The U.S. Cities Attracting the Most Families 62 Joel Kotkin, Forbes, September 11, 2014 v vi Contents This Is the Most Economically Segregated City in America 66 Alan Pyke, ThinkProgress, February 24, 2015 Mini-D.C.’s: A Small-City Boom Revitalizes Downtowns Once Left for Dead 68 John Woodrow Cox, The Washington Post, October 31, 2014 How Suburban Are Big American Cities? 72 Jed Kolko, FiveThirtyEight, May 21, 2015 Foreclosures Fuel Detroit Blight, Cost City $500 Million 75 Christine MacDonald and Joel Kurth, The Detroit News, June 3, 2015 3 Economy and Industry Jobs, Opportunity, and Innovation in Urban Environments 83 The Nation’s Future Depends on Its Cities, Not on Washington 89 Michael Hirsh, National Journal, August 31, 2013 Can Tax Breaks for Big Corporations Turn Around One of America’s Most Dangerous Cities? 98 Lidia DePillis, The Washington Post, December 15, 2014 How American Sports Franchises Are Selling Their Cities Short 104 David Uberti, The Guardian, September 22, 2014 Why Millennials Still Move to Cities 112 Kevin Maney, Newsweek, April 10, 2015 Why Are There So Many Shuttered Storefronts in the West Village? 115 Tim Wu, The New Yorker, May 24, 2015 Why American Cities Are Fighting to Attract Immigrants 118 Ted Hesson, The Atlantic, July 21, 2015 4 Crime and Policing Law and Disorder 123 Contents vii Inner-City Violence in the Age of Mass Incarceration 128 Heather Ann Thompson, The Atlantic, October 30, 2014 Two Architects of Broken Windows Policing Go On the Defensive 133 Eric Jaffe, Citylab, December 29, 2014 The Militarization of U.S. Police: Finally Dragged into the Light by the Horrors of Ferguson 137 Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, August 14, 2014 City Life 143 Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, May 11, 2015 The Myth of Police Reform 146 Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, April 15, 2015 Is a New Crime Wave on the Horizon? 149 Mariano Castillo, CNN.com, June 4, 2015 5 Architecture and the Arts Urban Beauty, Functionality, and Culture 155 Why Public Art Is Important 160 Jared Green, The Dirt, October 15, 2012 Local Urban Culture Goes Global 164 Jeroen Beekmans, Pop-Up City, January 15, 2013 Pop-Up Salvation 166 renée e. hoogland, Art in America, December 1, 2013 Can Chicago Become America’s Next Great City for Artists? 169 B. David Zarley, Citylab, February 15, 2013 Why Cities Can’t Afford to Lose Their Artists 172 Richard Florida, Citylab, December 4, 2014 Cities Create Music, Cultural Festivals to Make Money 175 Chad Kaydo, Governing, January 2014 viii Contents High Line Your Museum 178 Jonathan Massey, Art in America, May 1, 2015 New York City Rethinks Art for the Masses 184 Jennifer Smith, The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2015 Embracing Graffiti Could Help Contain It, Save Tucson Money 186 David J. Del Grande, Arizona Daily Star, August 1, 2015 6 Politics and Education Managing the Future 191 In Major U.S. Cities Education “Reform” Opponents Take to the Streets 196 Amy Dean, The Nation, August 6, 2013 Charter Schools Continue Dramatic Growth Despite Controversies 199 Joy Resmovits, The Huffington Post, January 25, 2014 The Rise of the Progressive City 202 Michelle Goldberg, The Nation, April 2, 2014 The Revolt of the Cities 209 Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, April 23, 2014 The Gentrification Effect 218 Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times, February 25, 2015 These American Cities Are Fighting for Control over Electricity and the Internet 222 Max Holleran, openDemocracy, April 21, 2015 Bibliography 226 Websites 232 Index 235.