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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.

Many of them are more interested in pandering to hungry corporations than they are in making investments in their citizens.
Even before the pandemic wiped out ridership, the systems were struggling to attract riders. Cities should be open to questioning the fundamentals of how they operate and fund their systems.
While it's helped a lot of Americans who are displaced from their offices get their work done, it's fallen short in areas like education and disease tracking and has once again highlighted the digital divide.
After decades of revival, they've been dealt severe blows across multiple dimensions by the coronavirus pandemic, putting them in danger of a period of extended decline.
It may not always look pretty, but the American system of federalism creates opportunities to try different things and pick up the slack when there's a shortfall at one level of government.
As the "smart city" movement has progressed through three distinct waves, local governments have found themselves increasingly struggling to manage the changes that alter many aspects of urban life.
Is talent the most important factor? Taxes? Crime? It's a long list.
Most places were never going to land the company’s next headquarters. But there are still some key takeaways for them.
Before we invest in new infrastructure, we need to maintain and update what we have.
Coastal cities have disproportionately thrived thanks to economic centralization. Yes, the marketplace is to blame, but so is federal policy.