City Makers: American Futures
The people, organizations, and ideas reshaping the country. A journey piloted by James Fallows with Deborah Fallows.
Burlington, VT
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Deborah Fallows A Post-Election Field Report From America's Refugees and Immigrants
Words and stories from the towns where the newest Americans live
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All photos by Deborah Fallows A New Vocabulary for American Towns
Three 21st-century words that are driving the nation's most dynamic municipalities
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John Tierney Greening Up in Burlington, Rocking Out in Allentown
As American government seems ever more paralyzed at the national level, cities continue to find ways to grapple with real problems. Two more examples.
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James Fallows A Song of America's Downtowns
A heartening surprise of our travel so far: the breadth, seriousness, and—in some places—success of the effort to revitalize small-town downtowns. Or, what 3 programmers from Uzbekistan taught us about America.
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James Fallows The Vermont Lake Monsters, and Other Updates From the Road
Are people in smaller towns "nicer" than cosmopolitans? No. But their political structures are working better.
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James Fallows Greenville, Burlington, and American Futures
"I loathed it with the heat of a thousand million suns."
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Why Do Tech Companies End Up Where They Are?
"You get some clusters, and some stand-alone firms far from anyone else. But rarely anything in-between."
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Wikimedia Commons Luck? Planning? Karma? The Elements of a Small Town's High-Tech Success
A software company grows in an unlikely setting. "Why here?" we ask the founders.
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A City's Turning Points
The steps toward success, or failure, and why our understanding of them matters.
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James Fallows On the Limits, but Also the Power, of Local Narratives
The stories cities tell about themselves, and the difference that makes.
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When Rails Make the Difference, From Down East to the Southwest
The loss of rail service into a small Maine town has been crippling. By John Tierney
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America-Going-to-Hell Watch, Heady Topper Dept.
Ever closer to the magical-unicorn ideal
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Wikimedia Commons How the #1 'Breakthrough' Helps Modern Communities Survive
The importance of communities, imagined and real.
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John Tierney What Would an Ideal College Look Like? A Lot Like This
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University of Vermont How Did a 'Public Ivy' Take Root in Vermont?
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The Question We Keep Running Into: What Turns a Town Around?
Plus, a nationwide golden age of beer.
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Vermont Report: Shaping the Soul of a School
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A New Type of Growing City
"This is where the talent wants to live"
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Dealer.com Back on the Bright Side: Silicon Valley in Vermont
Why did this company end up on the shores of Lake Champlain, rather than on the San Francisco Bay or Puget Sound?
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Magical Roundabouts and the Language of Signs
