[lacrew]

This is a common dream for urban planner types. They shout from the rooftops that ‘people are coming back to the city’....but its only after buildings are abandoned and rents are so low, that ‘young’ and ‘artsy’ and ‘hip’ people move in and make the city ‘vibrant’.

But its not a real recovery. The rents will stay low, and real estate values will stay static. And these ‘young people’ aren’t true consumers that drive an economy.

Somebody will renovate some building into ‘lofts’...some kid will open up a new art gallery, alot of people will carry coffee cups around and perfect their hipster look...

But the housing market, tax base, industrial base, rental market, and just about every metric you can think of is upside-down in Detroit, and will be for a long time.

[tbw2]

The artists make so little money that they need nearly free housing and work space. These hipsters are slightly better than squatters who live off public benefits.

[KarlInOhio]

This is a common dream for urban planner types. They shout from the rooftops that ‘people are coming back to the city’....but its only after buildings are abandoned and rents are so low, that ‘young’ and ‘artsy’ and ‘hip’ people move in and make the city ‘vibrant’.

This looks like the typical new urbanism article: "All the cool kids are moving back downtown. You should be forced to do it to." How many of those same "cool kids" will sprint back to the suburbs as soon as they have a baby and start thinking about schools or their kids playing out in the street.

[Resolute Conservative]

Spot on!

[Lancey Howard]

The author is a professor - - an economist and social scientist - - who teaches in Canada and pushes his theory about the "creative class".