Free Cities
Blog
Bullet train won’t improve urban transportation
(image courtesy California High-Speed Rail Commission) Even on its best day, California’s high-speed rail project was always going to struggle to deliver on its grandiose promises – a best day that was unfortunately Nov. 4, 2008. That was the day California voters approved a modest and fantastical version of what ...
Blog
Future cities could be beacons of innovation and hope
Futurist imaginings of what sort of world awaits humanity often embrace extreme scenarios, ranging from George Jetson’s utopia to George Orwell’s nightmare. They also tend to be wildly inaccurate. With that in mind – and not to stray too far into the territory of unrealistic optimism or excessive pessimism – ...
Blog
Urban flight: Removing cars won’t revive our cities
As happened in the 1960s and 70s, America is witnessing a great exodus from some, but not all, of its cities. This time, even West Coast cities, with their sublime weather and ports on the Pacific Ocean, also are seeing residents flee paradise. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in ...
Charter School
Watch: Charter Schools Can Improve Urban Learning Options
Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center talks with Natomas Charter School Executive Director Dr. Joe Wood and tours the innovative campus that is changing lives in a diverse Sacramento community.
Blog
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes By Wayne Winegarden A growing housing unaffordability problem is now plaguing cities across the country. The roots of this crisis are errant monetary and fiscal policies that, before they stoked our current bout of inflation, incentivized a surge in housing prices. ...
Education
COVID-19 Gave a Boost to Urban Homeschooling
COVID-19 gave a boost to urban homeschooling BY LANCE IZUMI Students in urban traditional public schools have struggled for years, but recent state and national test-score results show that student performance fell even more in the wake of the COVID pandemic, which is why so many urban parents have decided ...
Commentary
Privatization saves money and improves city services
What is the purpose of city government? If you’re an ordinary person, you might figure something like the establishing of certain types of rules (mainly around business and building) and the providing of certain types of services (from parks to policing). City residents, business owners, developers and visitors pay taxes ...
Commentary
Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites
Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites By Steven Greenhut Progressives loves cities, yet refuse to address the degree to which their policies have made urban life a bigger chore than needed. Conservatives depict cities as dystopian hellholes. They delight in highlighting the crime problems, poorly functional school ...
Commentary
Boost police accountability to help improve urban policing
Especially as crime has increased in many cities the past two years, Americans want safe streets, but with responsible policing. They don’t want to get mugged, but also don’t want abuses such as the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD in 1992 or the death of George Floyd in ...
Blog
A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River
A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River By Edward Ring “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; ...
Bullet train won’t improve urban transportation
(image courtesy California High-Speed Rail Commission) Even on its best day, California’s high-speed rail project was always going to struggle to deliver on its grandiose promises – a best day that was unfortunately Nov. 4, 2008. That was the day California voters approved a modest and fantastical version of what ...
Future cities could be beacons of innovation and hope
Futurist imaginings of what sort of world awaits humanity often embrace extreme scenarios, ranging from George Jetson’s utopia to George Orwell’s nightmare. They also tend to be wildly inaccurate. With that in mind – and not to stray too far into the territory of unrealistic optimism or excessive pessimism – ...
Urban flight: Removing cars won’t revive our cities
As happened in the 1960s and 70s, America is witnessing a great exodus from some, but not all, of its cities. This time, even West Coast cities, with their sublime weather and ports on the Pacific Ocean, also are seeing residents flee paradise. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in ...
Watch: Charter Schools Can Improve Urban Learning Options
Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center talks with Natomas Charter School Executive Director Dr. Joe Wood and tours the innovative campus that is changing lives in a diverse Sacramento community.
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes By Wayne Winegarden A growing housing unaffordability problem is now plaguing cities across the country. The roots of this crisis are errant monetary and fiscal policies that, before they stoked our current bout of inflation, incentivized a surge in housing prices. ...
COVID-19 Gave a Boost to Urban Homeschooling
COVID-19 gave a boost to urban homeschooling BY LANCE IZUMI Students in urban traditional public schools have struggled for years, but recent state and national test-score results show that student performance fell even more in the wake of the COVID pandemic, which is why so many urban parents have decided ...
Privatization saves money and improves city services
What is the purpose of city government? If you’re an ordinary person, you might figure something like the establishing of certain types of rules (mainly around business and building) and the providing of certain types of services (from parks to policing). City residents, business owners, developers and visitors pay taxes ...
Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites
Healthy cities matter – and not just to urbanites By Steven Greenhut Progressives loves cities, yet refuse to address the degree to which their policies have made urban life a bigger chore than needed. Conservatives depict cities as dystopian hellholes. They delight in highlighting the crime problems, poorly functional school ...
Boost police accountability to help improve urban policing
Especially as crime has increased in many cities the past two years, Americans want safe streets, but with responsible policing. They don’t want to get mugged, but also don’t want abuses such as the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD in 1992 or the death of George Floyd in ...
A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River
A river runs through it: Revitalizing the Los Angeles River By Edward Ring “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; ...
