![]() Servicing debts and shoring up finances has often been prioritized over providing services and building infrastructure. Some cities, like Dallas and Portland, have also had to face up to their huge unfunded pension liabilities. Many of them, like Chicago and Memphis, siphoned revenues into reserves and made recessionary budget cuts permanent. When housing markets collapsed and stock markets sank, cities found themselves running out of money. The usual culprits of economic restructuring, racial tensions, shifting consumer preferences and government inefficiency are all still involved, but these forces are now manifest in new ways.Īfter the financial crisis that began the Great Recession in 2007, cities got spooked. This is not a rerun of hollowing out experienced in many U.S. A donut city is defined by out-migration, with the city center losing residents and businesses to the suburbs. Tightening city government finances and growing service demands are threatening to produce Donut City 2.0. I study how urban governance challenges shape city budgets, so I’m aware of how these pandemic-related changes are making long-term urban problems worse at a time many cities are dealing with strained budgets. For example, New York City’s subway is at 65% of pre-pandemic ridership as of early 2023. Ripple effects include shrinking lunchtime crowds, slumping retail sales and a drop-off of public transit ridership. In many downtowns, office occupancy is at 50% pre-pandemic levels. ![]() The widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work schedules has drained commercial offices and caused tenants to terminate leases. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly bears some of the blame. The specter of downtown decline is again haunting American cities.Īfter many decades of reinvestment and repopulation, some American downtowns are now showing signs of hollowing out again. This article is republished from The Conversation.
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