Big Beats Small, New Beats Old

Maybe there's no more "urban doom loop", but still cause for concern.

Postcard depiction of Cairo, Illinois, circa 1940. Source: ebay.com

I came across a couple of interesting pieces in the last week that had me thinking about the past, present and future of American cities again. After reading them, I felt somewhat upbeat and validated, but also concerned.

The first piece was a research paper by the Brookings Institution's…