And any effort to "make change happen" might have unexpected consequences. There was one with Unigov in Indy. The smaller city of Indianapolis had Democrat mayors from 1956 to 1968, when Richard Lugar was elected. When Unigov happened, most of the suburban areas brought into Indy were heavily Republican--there wasn't another Democrat mayor until 2000! I doubt if the Indy Democrats expected that, but it happened.
If there's one thing I have learned in life, it is that nobody is as smart as they think they are--and that is especially true of our political class! I think over the next fifty years or so the cities will continue to shrink, suburbs and small towns will grow--until something happens to reverse that trend.
As far as limiting the size of cities, I am not sure how it could be done. And there is not only the official "city" but also the larger "metro area." When Unigov passed in 1970, Indianapolis took over most of Marion County; but the same law that allowed them to do that barred them from going past the county line. These days, a lot of the population of the metro area is in the outlying counties. I would not be surprised if half or more of the people in the Indy metro area actually live outside Marion County. One thing I have noticed--a lot, possibly most, of the new construction, both residential and commercial, is outside of Marion County now.
It's somewhat similar in my hometown, Cincinnati. In fact, the US gov't designation of the Cincinnati metro area now includes 7 counties in Ohio, 3 in Kentucky, and 4 in Indiana! And yet, the actual legal City of Cincinnati is less than half the area of its own Hamilton County. Cincinnati never got any kind of Unigov deal. So there are more than 3 dozen legal "cities" and "villages" in Hamilton County alone, besides the outer counties.
He has written a lot at a website called New Geography. Some years ago, when there was a lot of noise about the new rise in central cities, he looked at actual data and figured out that the real growth was still in suburbs and exurbs. He's been a dissenting voice ever since.
The truth is, the rise of our big cities was not planned by anybody--it mostly just happened with the growth of industry in the mid-20th century. Now the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. The big cities are losing population slowly. Hamilton County (OH) peaked in 1990; they've lost 100,000 people since then. I suspect it's similar in Indy.
Phil, Thanks for your thoughtful comments. For myself, I wonder if our country would be better served by limiting the size of cities? I think there might be an optimum city size for several reasons, including environmental and National Security.
And any effort to "make change happen" might have unexpected consequences. There was one with Unigov in Indy. The smaller city of Indianapolis had Democrat mayors from 1956 to 1968, when Richard Lugar was elected. When Unigov happened, most of the suburban areas brought into Indy were heavily Republican--there wasn't another Democrat mayor until 2000! I doubt if the Indy Democrats expected that, but it happened.
If there's one thing I have learned in life, it is that nobody is as smart as they think they are--and that is especially true of our political class! I think over the next fifty years or so the cities will continue to shrink, suburbs and small towns will grow--until something happens to reverse that trend.
Frank, thanks for commenting!
As far as limiting the size of cities, I am not sure how it could be done. And there is not only the official "city" but also the larger "metro area." When Unigov passed in 1970, Indianapolis took over most of Marion County; but the same law that allowed them to do that barred them from going past the county line. These days, a lot of the population of the metro area is in the outlying counties. I would not be surprised if half or more of the people in the Indy metro area actually live outside Marion County. One thing I have noticed--a lot, possibly most, of the new construction, both residential and commercial, is outside of Marion County now.
It's somewhat similar in my hometown, Cincinnati. In fact, the US gov't designation of the Cincinnati metro area now includes 7 counties in Ohio, 3 in Kentucky, and 4 in Indiana! And yet, the actual legal City of Cincinnati is less than half the area of its own Hamilton County. Cincinnati never got any kind of Unigov deal. So there are more than 3 dozen legal "cities" and "villages" in Hamilton County alone, besides the outer counties.
Someone with interesting views on cities is Joel Kotkin. Here's a current article from him: https://unherd.com/2023/05/what-really-divides-america-2/
He has written a lot at a website called New Geography. Some years ago, when there was a lot of noise about the new rise in central cities, he looked at actual data and figured out that the real growth was still in suburbs and exurbs. He's been a dissenting voice ever since.
The truth is, the rise of our big cities was not planned by anybody--it mostly just happened with the growth of industry in the mid-20th century. Now the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. The big cities are losing population slowly. Hamilton County (OH) peaked in 1990; they've lost 100,000 people since then. I suspect it's similar in Indy.
Phil, Thanks for your thoughtful comments. For myself, I wonder if our country would be better served by limiting the size of cities? I think there might be an optimum city size for several reasons, including environmental and National Security.