3. The rapid pace of change

The pace of these challenges is fast, perhaps faster than we are currently able to cope with.

       Overall, the American economy is converting over 1 million acres of farmland per year to development, the equivalent of five family farms per day. Trends in global ownership of traditional "home-town" industry and corporate restructuring are equally rapid. In the past year, for example, South Florida watched as NationsBank, which in turn is merging with Bank of America swallowed Barnett Bank, aka "Florida's Bank," This transaction, valued at $85 Billion, resulted in a Community Reinvestment Act commitment offer of $350 Billion. The same week that the NationsBank-BankAmerica merger was announced, Bank One and First Chicago/NBD (which was created just a scant year ago) announced a similarly scaled merger. Both mergers were dwarfed by the proposed marriage of Citicorp and Travelers Insurance, a deal valued at $700 Billion and a definitive step toward a consolidated financial services industry. A large sign across the parking lot of a remaining community bank in Chicago reads, "Bank Merger Victims Welcome Here."

       As traffic threatens health and we continue to age, "gated communities" replace traditional patterns. Researchers have found that the portion of new planned developments surrounded by security gating has grown to one out of six. This has occurred in just the past two decades.⁷¹ As school-funding disparities increase while both the "baby boom" population and record immigration rates overwhelm older systems, the increasing lack of quality school choice drives outward migration even faster. ⁷²

Contents

• Part I The Tangible Assets of Cities
• Part II Barriers to Valuing the Assets of Cities
• Part III Intangible Assets: Social Capital and Place
• Part IV A Newer Geography of Hope
• Part V Conclusion: Making Community Count
• Endnotes