Joel Kotkin's book The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050 came out in February and predicted a revival of "the Heartland" based on manufacturing and capacity for growth coupled with a quality of life consistent with what future generations will want.
I have summed up Kotkin's vision as Millennials will build single family homes in the suburbs and manufacturing will revive. The roadmap for Ohio is to embrace manufacturing, invest in skills training, and keep building green infrastructure while putting out the welcome mat for returnees and immigrants.
His futuristic view didn't necessarily sit well with some Smart Growth people who prefer to pack people in urban areas and scream for density upon density. The Midwest isn't on many urbanists lists of locales.
And the Brookings Institution is very nearly the poster child for Smart Growth.
So, imagine my shock when I see this news release and link from TechColumbus. It's about a report from the Brookings Institution predicting the revival of the Midwest.
TechColumbus sums up the report as the Midwest can see a revival if it embraces manufacturing, invests in skills training, and keeps building green infrastructure.
Sounds the same?
Did to me too.
When did Brookings start drinking the Kotkin Kool-Aid? Glad they are.
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