by Michael Finley
Copyright © 1996 by Michael Finley

I accepted, more out of the pleasure of being invited than out of expertise on urban matters. In truth, I could only think of a single tech trend that clearly smiled on older cities -- home delivery via the Internet. Technology, from what I can see, is a great disrespecter of locale. Uptown, downtown, in-town, no-town -- makes no difference to the Internet.

Cities have been in decline since the original Chicago Mayor Daley wielded political clout. As wealth keeps moving out of them, further out into the suburban and exurban rings. With the wealth goes the tax base and, ultimately, political power. When suburbanites outnumber city-dwellers four to one, cities don't have a very big stick to swing.

Former mayor George Latimer, a director for the LRC, facilitated the discussion. Visitors from Chattanooga, Portland (Oregon), Denver and Taiwan provided case histories of neighborhoods and whole cities that came roaring back by blending the very old with the very new. Sometimes, as in Chattanooga, it took no more than getting people to feel good about the city again.

But the dominant mood was frustration. On the one hand the city-savers have to fight the problems of decay and crime and disinvestment in the neighborhoods. On the other hand, they have to overcome the negative view the suburbs have of the city. In the minds of lots of people, money invested in the suburbs (new corporate headquarters, new megamalls, new housing, new highways) pays off big time, whereas money invested in the inner city (hundred of billions over the last three decades) seems to disappear down a rathole. The suburbs are heavily subsidized, too, but we don't appear to resent spending money underwriting sprawl the way we resent money that addresses the really tough issues of poverty, jobs, education, welfare and race.

Anyway, here's the one theory I laid on them. The idea is that logistics and inventory software will someday render obsolete the generic goods superstore, like Wal-Mart and Cub Foods. You order your groceries and other staples over the Internet, with one-hour to overnight delivery. The big stores, burdened by fixed costs, will be unable to compete. Overnight, grass will grow through the asphalt in the huge suburban parking lots.

That's it. It doesn't exactly call for a mad rush from the suburbs back to the cities. It doesn't even suggest how people are going to buy tomatoes without squeezing them on-site. And it has a don't-hold-your-breath quality about it, kind of like the imminent increase in gas costs which will make middle class suburbanites flock back to the cities. It could happen anytime now.

I wish I'd had a better theory to offer, because city-savers could use a blast of hope. Cities need more attractive selling propositions and bright ideas to reverse the outflow, refurbish their tax base, and do what cities have always done: attract talent, provide jobs, and be the engines for regional economies.

The Lowertown Redevelopment Corporation, which has been transforming that part of the Saint Paul downtown since 1978, has had no shortage of ideas. Weiming Lu, Shanghai-born executive director of the corporation and host for the one-day confab, conceived of the area as a "cyber village," wired to the max for cable TV, high-bandwidth fiber optic networks, satellite uplinks, and the Internet.

The Lowertown cyber village embodies, just as its name suggests, a world of both new and old, a farmer's market and a television station, ancient brownstones and sleek high-rises. If you think of wiring as plumbing, this neighborhood has pipes to spare. It has succeeded in drawing not only a population of young people who enjoy the downtown ambiance, but enough small tech-oriented businesses to make Lowertown finally look like a go.

But Lowertown is a special case, a downtown neighborhood, full of remarkable properties, that was lucky enough to attract a $10 million big redevelopment grant from McKnight many years ago (that has since led to over $400 million in other investment, according to the LRC). Most neighborhoods have fewer landmarks to offer, and don't have $10 million in seed money to play with. Who is going to step in and save them? Will new wires work the same magic in a neighborhood along University Avenue?

The trend that will help old cities more than the collapse of Wal-Mart and disappearance of fossil fuels may be simple demographics. Where the World War II generation and their baby boom offspring left the old neighborhoods for the outer ring, there are signs that the next generations coming into money, the GenXers and Millenials, see value where their parents saw only problems.

Neat thought: the city as a frontier colonized and revivified by readers of Wired Magazine. Hang on, cities, help may be on the way.

Michael Finley is co-author with Harvey Robbins of Why Change Doesn't Work.Visit Michael Finley at his home page, or e-mail him at mfinley@mfinley.com

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