Monday, December 19, 2011

Urban renewal schemes don't work that well outside the classroom

This is news to some. Professors, think-tank geeks, and newspaper editorial boards come up with grand schemes to revitalize declining or dead urban core cities. The local and state politicos try and carry them out (with the attendant corruption, cronyism, waste, fraud, and incompetence) and then act surprised when the whole scheme fails to deliver. We shouldn't really be all that shocked says this piece in City Journal; the record for such programs being largely wastes of effort and resources has been there all along.