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Aaron M. Renn

Columnist

Aaron M. Renn is an opinion-leading urban analyst, consultant, speaker and writer on a mission to help America’s cities and people thrive and find real success in the 21st century. He focuses on urban, economic development and infrastructure policy in the greater American Midwest. He also regularly contributes to and is cited by national and global media outlets, and his work has appeared in many publications, including the The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

He can be reached at aaron@aaronrenn.com or on Twitter at @aaron_renn.

The factory jobs that used to be a fit for unskilled blue-collar workers are rapidly going high tech and white collar.
We need to move toward a lower-energy future, but we can’t present it as a punishment.
Cities in the South and Southwest aren’t just luring new residents. They’re growing their role as corporate headquarters towns.
No one disputes that we need more housing. But the YIMBY movement has a broader set of goals that would threaten the tradition of local land use decisions in America.
We focus on people leaving cities, but we tend to ignore where they came from and what they take with them.
Unlike many serious urban problems, this one is eminently solvable. There’s a growing body of useful research of what works to operate a well-functioning transit system.
America’s third-largest city has a plenitude of problems. But it has great advantages as well.
Corporate investment can be an economic boon to low-income communities. It can also be a cultural threat.
City centers have had a rough couple of years. But there is a way forward if they have the fortitude to take it.
Population growth is slowing or reversing just about everywhere in the country. That has enormous implications for our future economy and prosperity.