Urban renaissance

Ed Morrison posted this article, which is well worth a read:

it is clear that a massive urban renaissance is in full flight, with city after city reporting floods of suburbanites moving to city living.

In the States, the population equivalent of two New York Cities move annually from rural to urban areas! With this return to city living, the business improvement district (BID) movement (in our case, city improvement district or CID), is taking off - not only in numbers (New York City now has 61), but in the range and depth of services provided.

There is a sense of confidence in cities that I haven't experienced in the past 20 years. Gone are the days of "clean and safe" being the only focus for BIDs; now they have lifted their sights and are becoming major partners with city governments in making cities livable.

So, this is encouraging. Even more exciting are new regulations enforcing sustainable building codes:

"Green" and "sustainable" are no longer buzzwords - the designers of Manhattan's skyscrapers look for choices that will make their buildings as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Traditional materials are giving way to those that are specifically produced for the new green era and whose production systems themselves are free of pollution processes.

Within a matter of years, it will not be possible to have plans passed in NYC unless there is total conformance with the new "green" codes that are required to be met before the buildings can be certified for occupation.