Interchange: The Myth of the Urban Core

Samuel Staley has written a post on the Planetizen Interchange blog arguing that since the majority of Ohio's tallest buildings were built after their cities' populations peaked, the idea that we should direct new growth into existing infrastructure needs to be examined by planners and developers.

His argument is that most of this construction was the result of massive urban renewal projects funded by large public subsidies, and that without such assistance it would not be economically sustainable.

Using that assumption, he tries to shoot a hole into the Smart Growth argument by calling the idea of a dense urban core a "myth".

Staley is the director of urban and land use policy for the Reason Foundation, a non-profit libertarian think tank.