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The Planetizen News Brief

10 July 2008 - 4:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

Full Transcript

Could trends in urbanization have an effect on the presidential election? Maybe, according to a recent op-ed in The Boston Globe. Author Robert David Sullivan looked at demographics and voting data from the last presidential election to show that density seems to play a role in determining how voters in a specific place will vote. He says that during the 2004 presidential election, fast-growing and exurban communities overwhelmingly voted republican, while central city areas and older suburbs tended to vote democrat. These areas typically have lower rates of growth, which Sullivan suggests may be the determining factor in how communities and regions vote. He says that with suburbs struggling to sustain themselves and urban areas attracting more residents, the 2008 election may go to the democrats simply because of demographics.

And while many Americans are looking towards the urban core, many immigrants to America are looking back towards home. Immigrant populations are increasingly investing in property in their native countries, according to another article in The Boston Globe. In what is being called the reverse American Dream, immigrants to the U.S. are buying up property and building houses back in their home countries. Though this trend is not really new, the fact that more of them are doing it is. Lenders and governments in these native countries are making it much easier for immigrants to obtain loans and develop. Obtaining loans had been a major hurdle for immigrants in the past, but now their governments are recognizing that it makes more sense to encourage them to reinvest in their homeland. And with significantly lower housing prices abroad than in the states, it makes more sense for many immigrants, too.

And finally, some East Coast cities are turning back the clock in an effort to revive their stagnant downtowns. Old movie theaters from the middle of the 20th century are being revived and repurposed in a number of downtowns across Long Island, according to a recent article in Newsday. Officials are taking their aging and often un-used historic theaters and turning them into multi-purpose performing arts centers. Towns such as Islip and Riverhead are bringing the theaters back into the fabric of their downtowns by hosting musical performances, comedy acts, and, of course, movies. And with downtowns across the country showing gradual signs of regeneration, local business owners on Long Island are hoping the renewed interest created by these historic theaters will bring even more people downtown.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

Density Creates Democrats

The American Dream in Reverse

Theaters Catalyze Downtown Development

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