By DUANE M. ELLING
Dan Kildee is co-founder and president of the Center for Community Progress, which is helping people around the country identify, understand and address the costs, impacts and prevalence of abandoned urban properties. As former county treasurer in the Foundation’s home community of Genesee County, Michigan, Kildee helped launch the Mott-funded Genesee County Land Bank in 2002.
Mott Foundation Communications Officer Duane Elling interviewed Kildee about the Center’s work, which is supported through the Strengthening Community focus area of Mott’s Flint Area program. The following is an edited partial transcript from that interview.
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Dan Kildee |
Duane Elling: How would you characterize current land use policies in the U.S.?
Dan Kildee: The overall bias continues to favor movement to the suburbs and building on undeveloped land, rather than reusing urban properties.
Our cities tend to house our most critical institutions -- universities, hospitals, government, cultural and artistic centers. And cities are still where the bulk of our country’s social and economic innovation takes place, where we see new approaches in business and education develop and take hold.
Yet the ongoing exodus of people and wealth from cities continues to weaken urban land values and infrastructure, which feeds the whole negative cycle. The result is that many of our key urban centers – and not just industrial cities, but cities across the spectrum – are failing. And that bodes badly for all of us.
Elling: Could you elaborate on that?
Kildee: Cities have long been key drivers of the country’s economy. The wealth they generate migrates to adjoining suburbs and ultimately supports the economic foundation for public services, such as schools, across entire regions. It shouldn’t be surprising then that as that wealth disappears, the suburbs and regions also start feeling the pinch, which ultimately has a negative impact on the entire nation’s economic well-being.
This isn’t a new discovery; many people have been pointing out for years the danger of disinvestment in our cities. Yet, across the country we continue to see really bad policy – land use, foreclosure, tax, the way we finance business start ups and economic development – as the status quo.
Elling: What are the key steps to reversing that trend?
Kildee: First and foremost is recognizing and replacing the bad policies that aggravate the problem. This may include creating new systems, such as land banks, that keep urban properties under local control and available to revitalize and reenergize the community.
Next, we know that young, educated people are attracted to the amenities of strong, vibrant cities, and that where those young people choose to live, their wealth also goes and is distributed. Cities simply have to attract those young people if they’re to be economically viable. Also key is the participation of leadership – and not just elected officials – from all sectors and levels: local, state and national. People have to become more engaged, knowing that their own future is directly tied to investment in their urban centers.
Of course, we can spend all day creating interesting, effective approaches to urban land use and returning properties to the marketplace. But our success is going to be limited unless, as a country, we recognize that reusing and redeveloping urban property and revitalizing our cities is absolutely critical to the long-term civility and economic health of our society.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCE
Tools for revitalizing communities are core of Center’s work