Who is this city for? It’s a question that gets asked a lot in planning circles these days. <br />It gets at issues of diversity, accessibility and inclusion. Does the city work for everyone, <br />or only for some subsets of people? Sesame Street asked the question more simply. <br />One of the classic show’s most memorable songs got to the heart of a key issue: <br />“Who are the people in your neighborhood?” In the song, <br />the idea is to introduce kids to people they are likely to meet each day, <br />like postal workers, teachers, newspaper vendors (sadly dated material) and more. <br />But the segment gets at an important fact about where we live: We’re not alone. <br />The fundamental makeup of the community impacts how we interact with it. <br />Is the population generally older or younger? Is it diverse in terms of race and ethnicity? <br />Is it diverse in terms of income and education? <br />Overall, there is increasing diversity throughout the U.S., <br />however, it’s also increasingly likely that you’ll live next to someone like yourself. <br />According to Charles Murray’s recent book, Coming Apart: <br />The State of White America, 1960-2010, <br />cities and their suburbs are becoming increasingly isolated along economic, <br />educational and cultural lines. <br />Bill Bishop’s The Big Sort: <br />Why the Clustering of Like-Minded Americans Is Tearing Us Apart argues <br />that we’re also segregated by political preference. <br />More and more of us live in counties and towns that are less and less politically competitive. <br />The eventual outcomes of most elections are known long before the ballots are cast. As you can probably guess, <br />he believes this to be a bad thing. <br />Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution tells <br />Livability.com that the roles of cities and their leaders are changing. <br />The problems they are facing are increasingly complicated. <br />Their jobs are not as simple as putting more cops on the street <br />to reduce crime in between attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies and riding in parades. <br />“Now, you’re really seeing mayors and their <br />business/civic/university allies focusing on the fundamentals of the trade economy: <br />manufacturing, innovation, skills, exports,” he says. <br />These aren’t just big-city issues.
