The Future of the Center: The Core City in the New Economy Research

The Future of the Center: The Core City in the New Economy

Joel Kotkin

November 1999

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Olson Company was established in 1988 with the goal of developing high quality "For Sale" residential developments in urban areas throughout California. Today, the staff is comprised of over sixty people with previous experience in urban planning, finance, and construction. The company has built a reputation of working closely with City staff and understanding City requirements. In many instances, The Olson Company has been asked to develop multiple projects in the same City based upon its willingness to meet the needs of both the City and local community. The Olson Company has received numerous awards for its achievements in diversity, quality, community outreach, planning, and partnerships.

Reason Public Policy Institute (RPPI), a division of the Reason Foundation, fuses theory and practice to influence public policies. The Institute's research draws upon economics, science, and institutional analysis to critique public policies and advance new policy ideas in a variety of policy areas, including education, infrastructure and transportation, the environment, urban land use and local economic development, social services, and privatization and government reform. To that analysis, the Institute brings a political philosophy that supports rule of law, marketplace competition, economic and civil liberty, personal responsibility in social and economic interactions, and institutional arrangements that foster dynamism and innovation.

Established in January 1996, the Institute for Public Policy addresses key public policy issues through major conferences and seminars as well as through the publication of research findings. The Institute operates under the auspices of the School of Public Policy, which offers a master of public policy degree and several joint degree programs emphasizing the moral and historical roots of free institutions. The School uses its location in Southern California as a rich laboratory for the emerging public policy paradigms of the 21st century. The School's graduates will be prepared for careers as leaders in government, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations.

Pepperdine University and the Reason Public Policy Institute gratefully acknowledge the following corporations, foundations, and individuals for their support of this project: ARCO Foundation, William T. Huston, Imperial Bank, Thomas P. Kemp, A. Samuel King, Carl and Ann Lambert, Ian R. Linde, Sun America Foundation.

Joel Kotkin, Senior Fellow with the Pepperdine University's Institute for Public Policy and Research Fellow in urban policy at Reason Public Policy Institute, is an internationally recognized authority on global, economic, political, and social trends. Mr. Kotkin is the author of hundreds of articles on urban trends and policy, including five books. His most recent books include Repealing Geography: Cities, Communities and Place in the Digital Age (Random House, forthcoming) and Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy (Random House, 1993). Mr. Kotkin is a monthly columnist for the Sunday New York Times, a twice monthly columnist for the Los Angeles Business Journal, a contributing editor to The Los Angeles Times Opinion Section, and frequent contributor to the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes ASAP.