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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.

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.
It’s not a household name, but it’s a place with a distinct culture and a raft of economic opportunities.
Ohio’s largest city has never attracted much national attention, but that is beginning to change.
Nashville is growing remarkably fast — and encountering serious growing pains. The next steps the city takes could mean the difference between transformation or having the infrastructure of an overgrown small town.
We can’t move millions of people back to the center of cities. But we can make our suburbs friendlier to urban values.
Hint: It’s not politics or failed strategy. But we have a 23-state region spanning the Great Plains, Midwest and Northeast, as well as some border states, that have consistently trailed the rest of the country.