American cities have undergone a significant transformation during the past four decades. We have become, for the most part, a suburban society with a rapid rate of movement away from the traditional central cities in terms of both population and employment. While many large cities remain significant employment centers, there has certainly been a large migration away from cities. This out-migration has led to some significant problems, including lower quality housing, blighted neighborhoods, poor property tax base, and a declining level of services, particularly the quality of education in many large city school systems. While there are significant problems that cities face, we have to be careful to not stereotype cities as solely poverty-ridden declining areas. There are many cities that are very desirable as places to live for many income groups. Information from the 2000 Census shows that Cleveland's population has remained relatively stable over the last decade, while Chicago's population grew by 4% and New York's grew by more than 9%. While these increases are not large, they show a reversal of the trend of population loss.

What about smaller cities and towns like Wooster? What are the most common problems they face?

Smaller cities have benefited from the out-migration of jobs and people from the large traditional core cities. These cities have been able to see an increase in industrial and other jobs as the large cities lost their locational advantages for certain types of economic activity. Residents also find advantages to living in smaller cities, where there is less congestion and where services are generally better. Smaller cities also have the advantage of being able to expand their boundaries by annexing surrounding unincorporated land to accommodate residential and employment growth. Annexation allows the city to expand its tax base as well. As for problems faced by smaller cities, the increasing presence of industrial jobs and an economic downturn could have a relatively large impact. Because many of these industrial jobs are branch plants, these cities are susceptible to the parent firm relocating the jobs. Those areas realizing relatively fast rates of growth also face potential problems of accommodating that growth with the expansion of services.

What can urban planners do in the next 25 years to improve life in cities of all sizes?

From an economist's perspective, urban planners have to emphasize the positive aspects of the city. In the large cities, the current emphasis has been to promote development of activities that would draw people to the city. The emphasis on sports stadiums, entertainment complexes, museums, etc., is a means of trying to draw non-city residents to the city. To attract jobs, accommodating the transition of land use and infrastructure from the old manufacturing base to a more service-oriented employment base is important. Cities also must have a high quality and productive labor force to attract businesses. The city's contribution is to ensure a quality educational system to provide the types and quality of workers employers need. Finally, cities must accommodate all income groups, particularly with respect to housing affordability and quality. One area where this is becoming more evident is the implementation of mixed-income developments in such cities as Chicago. Public housing is being replaced by mixed-income developments with single family dwellings, townhouses, and apartments. Many of the housingunits will be sold as market rate units while a portion of the area development will be used for subsidized housing of lower-income groups. The premise is that mixed-income developments will enhance neighborhood quality not only of the higher-income residents but also those of lower income.

What about urban sprawl? We have certainly seen a lot of it in Northeast Ohio, including here in Wayne County. Is it the result of the great prosperity of the last decade and is it happening too fast?

Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that started after World War II. This was the first period of significant development of suburban housing. The baby boom occurred, cheap land was available, and federal housing policies helped promote rapid suburbanization. Large lots and houses with yards became attractive, and the desire to be away from the crime and poverty of the city became increasingly important for us as a society. The nature of retail business also changed. Horizontal development was cost effective for large retailers and large retailers increasingly replaced small retailers. Horizontal development required cheap land. This has been occurring in metropolitan areas for many years and has become a more important issue in areas such as Wooster and Wayne County, where a large amount of relatively cheap land is available for development.

What about the city of Wooster? In particular, what is the future of the downtown area? Can it survive?

Downtown Wooster can certainly survive, at least during the 9-5 time period. The downtown area remains an important employment location for the legal and financial sectors. The retail vacancy rate is relatively low and the fact that reinvestment is occurring is a good sign that downtown is indeed viable.