City centers and downtowns across the United States may very well be in the midst of a comeback or a renaissance, be reaching a moment of triumph or successfully transforming themselves into magnets for millennials and retiring boomers. But according to the new Atlantic Media/Siemens State of the City Poll, […] Read more »
Will Liberal Cities Leave the Rest of America Behind?
… The declining ability of the American political order to deliver a steadily rising standard of living to the vast middle and working classes began to show itself in the 1970s, well before most people grasped the significance of what was happening around them. Decades of globalization have been accompanied […] Read more »
The Self-Sort
This week, four presidents journeyed to Austin, Tex., to address the Civil Rights Summit and remark on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s legacy on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act. That landmark act brought an end to legal racial segregation in public places. But now we are […] Read more »
Democrats Run Biggest Cities as U.S. Residents Cluster by Party
Twenty years ago, half the 12 largest U.S. municipalities had a Republican mayor. When Bill de Blasio takes office in New York on Jan. 1, none will. As middle-class residents moved out of cities and immigrants and young people replaced them, the party lost its grip on population centers even […] Read more »
What if Race No Longer Matters in City Politics?
The most significant development in the mayoral election in Boston earlier this month was hardly discussed: the absence of open racial animosity. … The absence of race as a divisive issue was also striking in New York’s recent mayoral election — and before that in the March 5 mayoral election […] Read more »
How the G.O.P. Became the Anti-Urban Party
… The Republican Party is, more than ever before in its history, an anti-urban party, its support gleaned overwhelmingly from suburban and rural districts — especially in presidential elections. This wasn’t always the case. … The rise of Alfred E. Smith to the top of the Democratic Party confirmed a sea change […] Read more »