Monday, March 06, 2017

Why Cities Can't 'Manage Decline' - CityLab

Why Cities Can't 'Manage Decline' - CityLab: "Policy, in its simplest form, is just jargon for group desire, marshaled through influential people. Desire comes down to fear or hope, as Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza famously insisted. When fear is your dominant driver, the policy becomes one of scarcity and security. When hope is dominant, the policy is viewed through possibility and aspiration. The key, here, is while “serious” policy decisions are supposed to be “smart,” they are derived viscerally. No wonder so many gut decisions on things like urban renewal end poorly."

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So why, says Richey Piiparinen, should cities like Cleveland assume that they will continue to decline, when nobody knows what the future may hold for any city?

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