Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation

Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation by Edward L. Glaeser and David Cutler

I wanted to like this book. The general idea and the conclusions are great. However, the execution just leaves something to desire. The authors come from different political perspectives and find issue with the way things are tackled politically. We need to get long term solutions to the big problems rather than just short term crowd pleasers. Policing is an example. On one side you have "defund the police". They are seeking to limit the harm that people experience due to police violence and excessive incarceration. On the other side you have "tough on crime" and "three strikes" policies aiming to prevent people from being harmed by crimes. People with lower incomes and minorities are often the most likely to be incarcerated and the most likely to be victim of crimes. Rather than a zero sum of "tough on crime" vs. "defund the police" we need to improve policing to reduce crime and incarceration. This does not bring itself to easy soundbites, but will provide a better solution. We need to address similar areas of education and health. Income, housing availability and costs are also related. Zoning has created havoc on the United States as a whole. Previously, people would migrate from poor areas to areas with opportunity, gradually leading to an equalization. Now the areas with opportunity are so expensive that migration is limited. The high cost of housing and limited availability makes it difficult for people to relocate there. A combination of the car and end-runs around racial integration have wreaked havoc on our cities. The poor bear the biggest burden of these changes. Despite these issues, people still desire to live in these cities.