Articles From The Urbanophille

The Urbanophile 2014 Year in Review   Please support the Urbanophile without spending an extra dime by doing your Amazon shopping through my affiliate link. Thanks! Happy New Year everybody! I’m back after the holiday with a look back at the previous year here at the Urbanophile. Thanks so much for your readership and support. As I mentioned, I’m going to be dialing back my posting frequency this year. To keep up without having to keep checking back to see if I’ve posted anything new, the best way is to subscribe by email (which includes exclusive content) or subscribe by RSS for those of you like me who prefer newsreaders. Here are some of the best pieces from the last year. January I make a major case that state economic development strategies should be metro-centric. February Michael Scott examines the overlooked potential of urban alleys. March Eric McAfee takes a visit to Wal-Mart’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. April Over at New Geography, I examine the rise of the executive headquarters. May As more businesses move downtown than anywhere else I’ve seen, I ask if something is wrong with Chicago’s suburbs. June I talk about how Dallas is an an inflection point in its development trajectory, and that one thing it needs to address is its challenging pedestrian environment downtown. July I ask: do cities really want economic development? And I rake Rhode Island over the coals in City Journal for its failed economic policies. I also give a three part installment on how to fix it: part one, part two, and part three. August I take a look at how the small industrial city of Kokomo, Indiana is trying to reinvent itself. I also talk about how the loss of hometown banks and other operating businesses turned many cities from growth machines into decline machines. September I talk about my paradigm of the new donut. October Daniel Hertz shared some stunning maps of New York City segregation. November Pete Saunders talks about the three generations of black mayors in America. December Steve Eide uses Hollywood to explore the three ages of boss rule in American cities. These are but a few highlights. Check out the full archive of posts in my left sidebar. Again, thanks so much for reading. Have a great 2015!