Category: Up To Speed

Links to keep you up to speed on what’s happening in Cincinnati and what we can learn from other cities.

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In Ohio, Columbus and Cincinnati exceed national average for college graduates

In Ohio, Columbus and Cincinnati exceed national average for college graduates.

As the economy of the United States continues to become more knowledge-based, it is important to have a well-educated work force. The new data, released by the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that Columbus (32.9%) and Cincinnati (29.6%) come in above the national average (28.5%) when it comes to the percent of individuals who are 25 or older with a bachelor’s degree. More from The Business Journals:

The U.S. Census Bureau, which keeps track of everybody’s progress, has just issued its latest update on educational attainment. These are its estimates for the 206.5 million Americans who were 25 or older as of last year. 177.4 million (85.9 percent) hold high school diplomas, and 58.9 million (28.5 percent) also hold bachelor’s degrees…It’s common to find areas where at least 90 percent of all adults have high school diplomas.

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What happens when urban farms get too big?

What happens when urban farms get too big?.

Urban farms are all the rage nowadays. Cities across North America have been incorporating them into the cityscape to fill the void left behind by shuttered industry, or abandoned housing. While the benefits seem to have been fully vetted, is there a risk to allowing urban farms to grow too large? More from Grist:

More than a few environmentalists have argued that urban farms must remain small or risk suburbanizing the city. One of the most prominent is Kaid Benfield, a smart-growth guru with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Benfield worries that urban farming, if practiced on a large scale, will dilute the walkability and density that defines cities.

“I support the growing of food in cities, and have even done it myself,” Benfield cautions. But it should be done in ways that support urbanism and not displace it…I’m not sure we’re talking about a city any more if we’re going to have fields of 20 acres and more.” By seeding large farms in the city, he says, “we risk locking in long-term environmental problems in terms of not having a healthy urban core. Central cities are starting to revive.”

One problem is that most of the best para-urban land (or land just outside cities) — which was once seen as ideal for growing food without huge transportation costs — has already been swallowed up by suburban development.

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The value proposition of large urban trees

The value proposition of large urban trees.

We all know the intrinsic value of trees. They’re beautiful, consume carbon dioxide, provide shade, and help keep us cool. But new research finds that large trees (those over 77 centimeters in diameter) provide even greater benefits to humans than do small trees (those less than 8 centimeters in diameter). More from Next American City:

When we talk about street trees and the urban forest, sometimes we miss an essential truth: Not all street trees are created equal. Mature trees are an order of magnitude more valuable to us than young, small ones.

There is no shortage of scientific evidence supporting the incredible benefits that mature trees provide to urban neighborhoods. Yet many local policies seem to focus only on the quantity of trees being planted rather than the quality…Planting a million trees is great. But planting even 500,000 in conditions that allow them to survive, thrive and mature is exponentially greater.

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What does the decline of the nuclear family mean for America’s cities?

What does the decline of the nuclear family mean for America’s cities?.

What has long been considered to be the traditional family household in America is changing. People are living longer, young individuals are putting off marriage, women are increasingly becoming dominant in the workforce, and same-sex couples are taking a more prominent role in our society. These changes mean a variety of things socially, but it also means that our types of housing are and need to continue to change. More from Urbanophile:

As affluent people who choose to remain childless remain in more urban areas, and those who choose to have kids live in suburban ones, we’ll have legitimate matters of interest driving them apart politically. In a piece called “Geographies in Conflict” I noted how different economic geographies in the same physical space is an inherent conflict. Red states and blue states don’t just have different political points of views. They increasingly do different things. If you are Texas and are in the business of energy, chemicals, logistics, and manufacturing, the things that you need to be successful are very different from a Silicon Valley or Manhattan, which specialize in ultra-high end, high value service industries. The conflicts are as much a product of legitimate self-interest as political philosophy.

I think we’ll see similar conflicts between the needs, wants, and desires of the childless urban population and those of the suburban families with kids. It’s kind of nice to do your shopping daily on foot or by bicycle at the local market and such when you don’t have three kids to buy for and haul around with you. Bloomberg’s proposed micro-apartments in New York are an example of a market designed to cater to singles, not families. It’s not a matter of one being good and another bad. It’s merely that singles (or childless married couples) and people with children have very different priorities and concerns in life.

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What issues facing cities are you hoping to hear discussed at tonight’s presidential debate?

What issues facing cities are you hoping to hear discussed at tonight’s presidential debate?.

The second of three planned presidential debates for the 2012 Election is scheduled for this evening. This debate will have a “town hall” format and will take place from 9pm to 10:30pm. One item that was not mentioned once by either Governor Romney (R) or President Obama (D) in the first debate was cities. Cities are where abstract issues debated at the national level, meet reality. Things like health care, education, gun control, infrastructure, immigration, budgets, and voting rights all must be faced at the local level, with no one else to pass the issue along to.

So with that said, which issue facing cities would you like to hear the presidential candidates address this evening in New York? More from Forbes:

Here’s hoping tonight’s debate format will shake things up a bit. The “town hall” style brings in actual real people who offer us the best chance yet of introducing some new topics into the conversation. And there are a lot of them. Immigration, the drug war, privacy, drone strikes, sanctioned assignation, to name just a few. To get a jump start, we reached out to Forbes’ million-plus followers and asked them what they want the candidates to debate tonight. We’ve already got some great responses at #Prezquestions – delivered with the kind of no-BS bluntness we hope those lucky enough to get to ask questions tonight deliver, too.