Place Alpha

American cities and towns face complex questions of identity, opportunity and even existence. For decades, its planning, specifically in the western U.S., focused on devouring one of its prized resources: open land. Supported by zoning, the stampede of unbridled development left us with unattractive, uneconomical and inefficient sprawl with its accompanying complex externalities and unintended costs as developers blindly chose to maximize cookie-cutter profits rather than attend to creating places to care about. While those choices now block any other choice, the tides are changing with wide demographic and economic shifts.

Images courtesy of www.WhosYourCity.com

Popular studies show that the majority of the most coveted demographic (the young college educated) select where they live before searching for employment there. Virtual networks and third places not only freed us from cubical land, but also freed our tie of home to the office. While implemented on a mostly urban and limited scale, a change is happening. Baby boomer's desire more from their collective retirements than rocking chairs and Ensure; the retiring generations are living longer, healthier lives with more disposable income than ever. Independence, engagement, entertainment, community—retirees are moving away from the family friendly suburbs toward more urban excitement and convenience. While only one major thread in the urbanizing demographic shift, this change is happening. We've also seen plain economic evidence of the stronger viability of urban centers as suburban abandonment continues as of this writing in many parts of the country.

Image courtesy of the FDIC

We must respond to this change. While the suburbs are still highly attractive to many families, current practice is decrepit, unsustainable and placeless. We must change, not for the abstractions of identity and the extinction of place, but for concrete economic, environmental and social issues. Sprawl has been termed one of the worst misallocations of resources in the history of the world, yet we continue to misallocate liberally.

This blog is one voice expressing a call for placemaking. Through it, I want to introduce my thoughts, insights, observations and celebrations of the region of my heart and home—the Inland and Rocky Mountain Northwest.