City Makers: American Futures

Revitalization & Downtowns

• Wasted Waterfronts: Why Cities Struggle to Build Along Rivers

  The story of Allentown, Pennsylvania, as it turns its attention to a long-neglected asset

  • John Tierney
  • Oct 3, 2014

• Remaking Columbus's Most Downtrodden Neighborhood

  Franklinton long has been called "The Bottoms." But not for much longer.

  • John Tierney
  • Oct 1, 2014

• Water, Water, Everywhere: Lehigh Valley Edition

  Allentown deals with fiscal problems from its past with a bet about water supplies for its future

  • James Fallows
  • Sep 22, 2014

• The City That Turned Its Water Into Cash

  "We've got unfunded obligations in the hundreds of millions. What can we leverage?"

  • John Tierney
  • Sep 22, 2014

• Breathing Life Into Allentown: Pennsylvania Comes to the Rescue

  What does it take to raise a city? More than a village. In fact, it may take a whole state.

  • John Tierney
  • Sep 15, 2014

• Countdown to Tonight's Arena Debut in Allentown

  Is the city ready for its close-up? The locals say it is.

  • James Fallows
  • Sep 12, 2014

• The Eagles Come to Allentown, and So Does 'American Futures'

  Tomorrow is the first day in an old city's new life—or so the city leaders hope and believe.

  • James Fallows
  • Sep 11, 2014

• 7 Ways in Which High-Speed Rail Would Help California, According to Its Chairman

  For your reference, a detailed pro-and-con about the most ambitious current attempt to change America's transportation infrastructure

  • James Fallows
  • Jul 14, 2014

• California High-Speed Rail—the Critics' Case

  Every big infrastructure project is controversial. Most of them work out better than critics contend early on. But maybe the critics are right about high-speed rail. Let's hear what they say.

  • James Fallows
  • Jul 11, 2014

• The California High-Speed Rail Debate—Kicking Things Off

  The Erie Canal. The transcontinental railroad. The Interstate Highway system. Big, expensive, controversial—and indispensable. Is the next one in this series a new rail network in our most famously freeway-centric state?

  • James Fallows
  • Jul 9, 2014

• Theories of History: Joe Max Higgins and the Golden Triangle of Mississippi

  "When Eurocopter came here, people started walking upright a little bit." Why has this part of Mississippi pulled ahead of some others?

  • James Fallows
  • May 23, 2014

• 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.

  • James Fallows
  • Apr 22, 2014

• The Seas? The Skies? The Transformation of a Company Town, Part 2

  One economic titan has fallen, another has taken its place, but a city wants to expand its options.

  • James Fallows
  • Apr 11, 2014

• The Transformation of a Company Town: St. Marys, Part 1

  What happens when the company shuts down?

  • James Fallows
  • Apr 7, 2014

• A City's Turning Points

  The steps toward success, or failure, and why our understanding of them matters.

  • James Fallows
  • Dec 30, 2013

• Building a Museum: Report From Down East

  A Maine couple defies the odds -- and helps to build community in the process.

  • John Tierney
  • Nov 27, 2013

• The Question We Keep Running Into: What Turns a Town Around?

  Plus, a nationwide golden age of beer.

  • James Fallows
  • Oct 13, 2013

• A New Type of Growing City

  "This is where the talent wants to live"

  • James Fallows
  • Oct 7, 2013

• Holland, 'Snowmelt,' 'Patient Capital,' and the Revival of Downtown

  "I have the best location in all of Western Michigan!"

  • James Fallows
  • Aug 15, 2013

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