Sluggish Cities

In the book City: urbanism and its end the author Douglas W. Rae proposes the idea that even the most booming cities can fail, due in part to the city government. I agree, I think many city governments today can become trapped into one idea and one goal while missing the larger picture. An example he uses is of the city of New Haven. Rae tells us that while Ford was producing the Model T, which would drastically change society, New Haven’s major was caught up on the quality of their sideways. If we move this idea to cities along the Hudson we are still seeing city governments like this today. Rae writes, “Cities are among the least agile creatures in America’s system of capitalist democracy—they move slowly, reactively, and awkwardly in response to change initiated by more athletic organizations” (Rae, 24). This is what has and will happen to old factory towns in Upstate New York, especially along the Hudson River. Cities like Troy and Hudson have hosted large factories producing many jobs and economic boosts. When these factories came into the cities the benefits were large, but when they left the results were devastating. Cities like Troy, slow moving to change, could not keep up with new cities with more to offer. However, it not just Troy, some day the cities now booming will fall to new, faster, cheaper cities elsewhere. If they want to keep up, these cities need to let go of the past and look into the future. The future is not an easy concept for people afraid of change.