Urban Research

We had a great lunch meeting with David Eichenthal from the Community Research Council. They are interested in the future of the mid-sized American city. They are committed to gathering the best data they can, and putting it in the hands of conscientious, well-meaning people with a passion for change. They have been tracking population, employment, economic and social issues and trends in Chattanooga and regionally. Their news is mostly promising. Chattanooga has been able to stem several alarming trends, such as population loss and education. Looking deeper into the statistics, however, they are concerned with those who the statistics leave behind.

Overall education level, for example, is rising. This is coming, however, from an influx of college-educated young people. While this is great -- every city want to attract such people -- what does it say about the people who have been here all along. They are remaining flat or, what is worse, falling behind. Thinking deeply about the data and testing its implications can lead people to make more well-informed decisions about how to change the community for everyone's benefit.

Hearing David talk about trends in American city life, such as the Growth Imperative in American cities, I was reminded of issues in the Detroit of my youth. It's been said that Detroit is the first major American city to die. It had been a ruin for decades. Last year I read Devil's Night and Other True Tales of Detroit by Ze'ev Chafets. It's the story of Detroit's decline from American megalopolis to ghost town. It's a fabulous book.

I was also reminded of the book that I've been reading here in Chattanooga, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Tom Friedman. I've been able to make numerous connections between this book and the urban coalition-building ministry that Mike Feely's doing here in Chattanooga. In the fast past future (i.e. the present) we rise and fall by our ability to make connections. This is the heart of the Saint Andrew's Center. I highly recommend this book.