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Reinventing the Cities

Cities, especially older cities, need to reinvent themselves.   Once vaunted icons of the manufacturing and industrial worlds, cities such as Detroit and London need to rethink their game plans.  Cities like Bremen, Lepzig, and even the more modest Chattanooga, Tennessee, have already restructured their urban centers so their citizens could find gainful employment in the restored and thriving urban centers.

There is an article on Yahoo where noted economist, Adam Smith write a review of a new book entitled, A Tale of Seven Cities. The book was written by academics from the London School of Economics and tells how seven older cities revived and restructured, after the catastrophic downturn in the seventies and eighties.   The book claims that lessons can be learned from these examples and applied to a great many cities around the world.  Among other things, unemployment dropped in all but one of these rejuvenated systems from 1990 to 20005.

Of course revitalization takes planning.  It takes money.  A group called Greater Ohio is working to reestablish that state.  Ohio went from industrial dominance to stumble stepping and turning into a rust belt district.   Now it, too, is looking to the future.

I have always liked urban centers.  I grew up in one, at a time when downturn actually meant excitement and attraction, and not just urban blight.   So for all of those sitting around and discussing the problems, I would urge you to read this book.   It will give you something to talk about.

Check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

One reply on “Reinventing the Cities”

[…] The Corra Daily Planet Blog highlights A Tale of Seven Cities, a new book written by Adam Smith, an academic from the London School of Economics. The book tells how seven older European cities revived and restructured, after the catastrophic downturn in the seventies and eighties and claims that there are lessons to be learned from these examples which are applicable to a cities around the world. […]