When Richard Ravitch died recently, there was this interesting article by urban economist Nicole Gelinas not just praising him, but discussing aspects of urban involvement.
The Life and Death of American Cities
Richard Ravitch’s office is now empty, too. His absence is a stark reminder that New York’s post-Covid recovery needs new generations of people who are as physically anchored to a city as he was, and who understand that urban civics depends on people in business, finance, politics, policy and media just showing up, day after day, to make a little unglamorous progress.
Robust urban culture also depends on influential people who don’t fall for top-down, gimmicky solutions to complex problems.
The weaker a city’s broader civic infrastructure, the more vulnerable that city is to the flimflam man. Sometimes, the flimflam man’s proffered solution further weakens civic infrastructure.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/o...o-ravitch.html
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