Greg Hanscom, cities editor at Grist, picks his top stories for 2011, including Occupy Wall Street, bright flight and the "urban renaissance that isn't (yet)."
Hanscom says that one of the most significant stories of the year was the Census analysis showing that the much-cited move to urban areas and out of the suburbs hadn't happened to as significant degree as reported:
"When the final 2010 Census came in, it made clear that the renaissance had not arrived yet -- at least not in any statistically meaningful way. An analysis of eight metro areas, including Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Austin, revealed that in the past decade, 96 percent of the population growth occurred in the suburbs. Some took great exception to this number crunching, arguing that it lumped a number of full-fledged cities in with the 'burbs. But while the Census, stripped of much of the nuance that it had contained in previous years, painted a rather fuzzy picture, there was little to suggest any inmigraiton into urban centers."
Read the full story: Top cities stories of 2011
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority