METRO POLICY OCTOBER 8, 2008
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Wasilla, Alaska, is currently the most famous small town in America, thanks to its former mayor Sarah Palin. A healthy part of her appeal is that she seems to embody small-town values, nurtured in Wasilla and America's other hamlets and burgs. As she said in her firecracker acceptance speech, small-town people live lives of "honesty, sincerity, and dignity" and "do some of the hardest work in America."
Palin was tapping into a widespread belief that small-town America represents the country at large. In April 2008, as the Democratic primary contest ground through Pennsylvania, Gerald Seib of The Wall Street Journal declared that "Rural and small-town voters are the best indicators of whether a candidate is connecting with the values of Middle America. 'They are America,' says Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster. ... 'If you can speak to [them], then you relate to the rest of America.'"
But the idea that we are a nation of small towns is fundamentally incorrect. The real America isn't found in cities or suburbs or small towns, but in the metropolitan areas or "metros" that bring all these places into economic and social union. Palin's positioning may appeal to a certain nostalgia that Americans have about small-town life, but the Manichean dichotomy of city versus small town (not to mention "urban" candidate versus "rural" one) no longer describes the radically connected and interdependent way Americans live and work.
America's small-town romance has a long, distinguished history, which perhaps explains why it has outlived its accuracy by at least 100 years. Thomas Jefferson was our nation's most influential exponent of the idea that cities are un-American. "I view the great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man," he said.
But the 1910 census was the last one in which rural Americans represented a majority of the population; these days, we've become a thoroughly metropolitan nation. Two-thirds of our population lives in the top 100 metropolitan areas, and 84 percent of Americans live in all 363 metros. Being in a metro means being tied to someplace else; the Census Bureau defines metropolitan areas as a city of 50,000 or more, plus the adjacent counties that have close social and economic ties to the urban core.
In metros, unlike mythical small towns, no place is self-contained or splendidly independent. Metros are tied together by highways and rail lines, and people cross local boundaries and state lines every day to shop, go to a doctor's office or a museum, and especially to go to work. The suburbs as a whole have more jobs than cities: Just under half of all commutes within metropolitan areas are from suburb to suburb, and only 19 percent are old- fashioned suburb-to-central-city trips. If you track commuting flows in the 14-county Chicago metropolitan region (as Brookings has done), the result looks like macaroni dumped on the map.
In fact, even the "small town" of Wasilla, Alaska is fast becoming a satellite of the state's largest city. Wasilla is nestled in the Matanuska-Susitna, or Mat-Su, borough (boroughs are Alaska's equivalent of counties), and the borough is part of the Anchorage metropolitan area. Around one-third of the workers in the borough make the 50-minute commute to Anchorage to earn their living. When she's not in Juneau during the Alaska legislative session, Sarah Palin is one of those workers.
More and more small towns like Wasilla are becoming part of the metro orbit. In fact, according to the Census Bureau, half of all "rural" residents live within the boundaries of a metropolitan area. (The classification of an area as "urban" or "rural" is based on population density, not the extent of economic ties to other places.) The census doesn't use the terms "exurb," or "suburb," so it's hard to know how best to describe low-density places within metros, beyond saying that these places are tied to the urban core, however much residents might object to the fact.
Thinking of the United States as a nation of small towns fundamentally misunderstands our economy, which is disproportionately driven by metros. Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, one of the world's foremost gurus on economic competitiveness, has suggested that there is no such thing as the U.S. economy, but rather a network of interlinked metropolitan economies. The top 100 metropolitan areas are home to 68 percent of America's jobs and are the origin of 75 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.
Metros are economic powerhouses precisely because of the way they differ from the idealized small town. Adam Smith noted in The Wealth of Nations that "the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market" and that larger markets (like those currently found in metros) enable workers to specialize and work more efficiently. The easy flow of ideas that drives economic growth also tends to happen in metros. The largest metropolitan areas house 76 percent of "knowledge economy" jobs (such as software developers), 81 percent of R&D employment, and 67 percent of major U.S. research universities. Just six metros accounted for 64 percent of the nation's venture capital funding. It turns out that the genuine interaction of people in the same physical space is not replaceable by the Internet, telecommuting, or video conferencing.
A politician who ignores this economic and demographic reality risks making serious policy mistakes, such as misdirecting the public investments that we need to survive in an era of intense global competition. For example, self-sufficient small towns don't need mass transit and high-speed rail networks, but interconnected metros do. Germany and France have already constructed fast rail connections between their major metropolitan areas, radically altering the movement of people and the facilitation of business. China is building the most sophisticated network of ports and freight hubs in the world. A nation of small towns doesn't recognize the need for these kinds of investments.
People's longing for small towns is an understandable fantasy. Small towns seem like slower, saner havens in an overly connected, frenetic world, places where a blackberry is an ingredient in jam. But metros, not small towns, are where our economy is, where our population is, and where our country's future is.
They may even be where our values are. Early twentieth-century sociologists wrote essay upon essay warning against the anomie and isolation of urban life when our metropolitan areas were new, loud, dirty, and frightening. But a few decades later, Jane Jacobs and Herbert Gans described the interdependence and solidarity of people in Greenwich Village and Levittown. Metros have increasingly come to symbolize connectedness--and connectedness, also expressed as a sense of community, is a powerful American value. The real lesson of metro culture is that values (like people) can't be constricted by municipal borders or labels on a map. Americans take our values with us, in high-rises, duplexes, McMansions, trailer parks, and tract home developments across the country. America is much bigger than its small towns.
Jennifer Bradley is a senior research associate with, and Bruce Katz is the founding director of, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.
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By Jennifer Bradley and Bruce Katz
18 comments
As a resident of Metro Detroit, I can only hope this "Idiocy" finds its way into Detroit. Take a minute and read the 10th Amendment.
- Sea of Liberty
September 20, 2008 at 7:44am
“The real America isn't found in cities or suburbs or small towns, but in the metropolitan areas or ‘metros’ . . . " --The part about the “metros” is exactly true. It’s the metropolitan areas that the American population has been herded into over the course of the past 41 years, especially in littoral regions of the country. The cities and towns are either dying (bypassed by the new interstate highway system) being transformed into poor men’s ‘Sun City retirement communities,’ or government agency (especially law enforcement) hubs, or, if adjacent to, and absorbed by, metropolitan areas, then, like the suburbs, they’re being transformed into “bedroom communities” (another way that towns and cities are dying).
- p.
September 26, 2008 at 2:33am
" ‘honesty, sincerity, and dignity’ " and ‘do some of the hardest work in America.’ " -----These towns are dying. They’ve also changed again in the past 20-23 years. Circa 1985, after about 20 years of cultural revolutions, and 16 years since the ramping up of the ‘cultural revolutions,’ a friend made a comparison and contrast comment, racialist and classist, but not merely a stereotype, and with much justice, that these towns were full of “losers:” “The only difference between them and the inner cities is that their skin is white.” --1985 was just a few years after the welfare reform of 1981 (a reform of the 1967 welform which was a reform of the New Deal era policies, adjusted to the 1966 Great Society programs. It was just a few years prior to the first big wave of ‘prodigals’ returning to (by then reformed) American religions due to fouling and ruining their lives via living lives of dissipation and severing their roots, no small manner due to following the bad popular psychology of 1961-79 and 1979-91. . . The consequences: explosion in Promiscuity (A.K.A. “sex”), facilitated by contraception, drugs, Rock N Roll, Hollywood, new post-1972 porn flicks, first waves of Baby Boomer’s No-Fault Divorces, following the first wave of divorces led by the “Greatest Generation”(circa 1969-79), continued explosion in teen drug use (and Nancy's 'sage,' "Just Say No"), explosion in teen pregnancy, circa 1979 onward, . . . explosion in bastard children, abortions, wife beating, “domestic violence,” and popularization of the term “Single Parent” (most commonly heard ad nauseum from females). And the institutionalization of Americans transformed into ‘dogs at the dish at dinnertime’ dole recipients: Aid To Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) (mostly "Single Parent" females), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), General Assistance (GA), Food Stamps, Medicaid, HUD programs, and state GA programs. . . --"honesty” and “sincerity” were replaced by lying and “Under The Table.” --“Dignity" would have been a bad joke 25 years ago. ----”do some of the hardest work in America” ????! Package liquor store, Shop N Stop clerks, Walmart, and gas station clerks? (which with the exploding crime rate, and dangerous predator type criminals, was a dangerous job in the 1980s). Or the continuous feed of jobless teenagers into, and return of jobless Vietnam era veterans to, the military, post-1979 onward? ----Millions have returned to religion, but these people haven’t reformed themselves, much. The bad hillbilly stereotype is still strongly ingraind in these people. They're reduced to having Hillary Clinton pose as a populist, lick their behinds, and babble about their "deep faith" and 'ingrained values.' --The towns and cities are either dying a steady death or being reformed as “bedroom communities” in metropolitan areas.
- p.
September 26, 2008 at 2:46am
“America's small-town romance has a long, distinguished history, which perhaps explains why it has outlived its accuracy by at least 100 years.” ----This is rubbish. More like by about 43 years. Slow start about 73 years ago. Begun in earnest about 75 years ago. Accelerated 1939-1946-1965 (suburbanization), rapid acceleration about 43-41 years ago, and continued since. Which is why so many small towns across the country, while dying, are NOT DEAD YET. Destruction of American small towns began with the Great World Wide Depression and is primarily a post-World War II phenomenon (The reform of American infrastructure, population and society). It was accelerated by the reform of the distribution and production systems, development of information communications system (Advanced electronics and digital electronics revolutions) and reform of American population (“Human Resources”). Distribution communications: New interstate highway system (circa 1956-79-onward), reform of the railway system, reform and development of ports, development of the air transport system. Production: Reform of agriculture, conservation of minerals and energy (i.e. shutting in metallic ores and energy minerals), circa 1979-2008, restructuring of American manufacturing (shutdowns and relocations). American population (increased reading comprehension skills), the scattering of large numbers of baby boomers, via work, throughout the country (relocation), cultural and religious desensitization and resensitization (“re-education”). All coincided with the ‘Cultural Revolutions” (the various ‘liberation’ movements) of 1965-91. The reform has largely coincided with the reforms of the government and military ('military revolution') ---The 100 year mark won’t hit until 2045-65 (at which time countless small towns will be dead, or completely redefined). ---Again, this “by at least 100 years” is rubbish. Orwell’s “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
- p.
September 26, 2008 at 3:14am
"and especially to go to work"
- p.
September 26, 2008 at 3:17am
‘dogs at the dish at dinnertime’ dole recipients: Now it’s so-called “entitlements” (i.e. ‘carrots’) to a population of individuals fully conditioned to apply for whatever money the government says that they’re “eligible” for. Here in southeast Texas, Hurricane Ike was the latest opportunity (and the subsequent loss of power due to it is the reason for my silence since at least 12 September). For those who obey the evacuation orders, then they’re entitled to money from FEMA. During Hurricane Rita, some I know received up to $3,200 from FEMA (including a general $2,000 for evacuation expenses), not counting the tax-free motel and hotel rooms (meals weren’t included, but weren’t much possible during Rita either). For Ike, it seems there will be reimbursement for some motel and hotel expenses (which will probably be conditioned so as to be much less than the $2,000 doled out in 2005). I don’t think anyone around here is eligible for anything for Gustav a few weeks ago (but I wouldn’t be surprised). Of course, the “Mandatory Evacuation” order is our personal “choice.” So far I haven’t cost the American taxpayer ‘one red cent.’ Personal evacuation expenses for Gustav and Ike were zilch (I stayed for both, and slept through Ike’s making landfall as the 98 mph sustained winds ripped my fences down). Rita cost me less than $100.00: Half a tank of gas, two nights in a motel (lucky to get, and unexpected), and no unusual food expenses since all food joints were CLOSED, and because I spent the night before leaving cooking and freezing about 3 days’ worth of food after realizing that the municipal and state government officials, with the zealous aid of the popular mass-communications media, were panicking he entire region (The government’s equivalent to shouting FIRE in the proverbial crowded theater). After Ike, another neighbor, with a generator, who stayed and I were barbecuing all week (yeah, real “rough,” but ya gotta eat :) ). So far I’ve taken one bag of ice from FEMA (a week after RITA hit). 2-and-a-half weeks without power after Rita and a-little-over-a week after IKE were uncomfortable but manageable, even with no generator. FEMA and the National Guard were no help during either. FEMA, and this crooked-as-a-dog’s-hind-leg government that it’s a part of, can shove their sticking “entitlements.” I didn’t/don’t need them and won’t take them. THAT was the principles of the ‘Party of Roosevelt” that bolstered, rather than destroyed, American families, and allowed men, women and children to live with dignity, whether they grew up on farms, in small towns or in cities. This garbage debauched and demoralized society, and American political parties are neo-British Georgian (debauching of human beings in implementation of so-called “Rule By Law”). The Great Society programs that led to this stage, were merely a new veriant of the post-WWI British Dole system. Americans are a beaten and debased population (via methods ‘tested in Britain and exported to America’--Perfidious Albions’ “Bad Seed”).
- p.
September 26, 2008 at 4:08am
A fine economic and demographic argument of why small towns shouldn't be the center of the American political zeitgeist, but I think this misses the main point: the myth of the small town is about values not demographics or economics. And here, the small town fixation is just as off base. There are true gems of the sturdy, self-reliant yeomanry, and others of the dignified and generous humanity we want to ascribe to small town values out here, to be sure. But they live side by side with selfish, dependent, narrow-minded bigotry, and with a self-absorption about the unique character of small town people that would make any 14 year old blush. We do raise good people out here, but we also raise scoundrels and idiots, and it's often not obvious who is winning the demographic war. In other words, we're pretty much like anywhere else, when it comes to the mix of humanity we manage to nurture. My favorite example of this, repeated everywhere I've been in the small town midwest, is the Walmartization of our commerce. In town after town, people who declaim daily how they value their neighbors and the friendliness and helpfulness of small town shopkeepers, have outsourced their local economies by encouraging (someimes fighting for) Walmarts, Dollar Generals, and other chain stores - sometimes bending zoning laws past the breaking point to do so. They then flock to these stores, and penury their beloved neighbor shopkeepers, to save a few percent on goods. They buy their gas from chain convenience stores, to save $.03/gallon (if you burn 500 gallons a year, that's $15.00 folks), while the local garage and gas station that used to fuel and repair their car, goes out of business for lack of patronage. So, yeah, we're the salt of the earth out here, all right. Send a tornado through to damage our neighbor's home and we'll clean up, feed and house them, and donate to the red cross. Next day, we'll bypass their hardware store to go get the new chain we need for our chainsaw after breaking one sawing up their wreckage at ... Walmart.
- Steve from Iowa
September 26, 2008 at 8:17am
Very insightful article.
- Lundell
September 26, 2008 at 10:00am
Typical liberal dribble. Ignoring the REAL American values of God, Country, Families and Values by casting that only in blighted Urban areas do Americans have a chance. Factualy a liberal lie, most REAL Americans are fleeing the urban myth, the high crime, the horrid schools, the blighted neighborhoods. Rural areas are exploding while mass centers of crime and violence are dying. Your article just continue the garbage that comes from the far left in America.
- mgarnett25
September 26, 2008 at 10:26am
The critical role of cities in American history doesn't begin in 1910, but much earlier-- that's where the American Revolution began. All of the agitation over the Stamp Act. Townsend Duties, Tea Act, and other imperial measures happened in the cities: Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Charlestown. Rural villages followed; for example, Concord, Mass. didn't really get upset and organized until 1774 and then largely followed suggestions from Boston's committee of correspondence.
- Daniel from rural Missouri
September 26, 2008 at 10:56am
There is no such thing as "small town values." People living in small towns vary in their values and opinions as much as those in big cities. The differences seem even more pronounced, in fact, because of the smaller numbers of people on either side of any particular issue. The claim that the "real America" lies in either metropolitan areas or small towns is ridiculous. The "real America," or the United States as it is more accurately named, is everything from metro areas to small towns to areas uninhabited by any humans at all. In the age of the internet, small town denizens can be as connected to people around the globe as are residents of metro areas. Small towns are also tied together by highways, though not usually by rail lines, and people cross local boundaries and state lines every day to shop, go to a doctor's office or a museum, and especially to go to work or college, just as in metro areas. The implied idea that small town residents never stray outside their own city limits is wrong. It is true that the U.S. economy is driven more and more by the metro areas. This is due to the outsourcing of many types of jobs, to the increase of information-based jobs which are concentrated right now in metro areas, and to small farms and family-owned businesses being taken over or pushed out of business by large corporations. And I would agree that "larger markets (like those currently found in metros) enable workers to specialize and work more efficiently." The authors of this article contradict themselves, however, when they first call self-contained small towns "mythical" and later write that self-sufficient small towns have no need for mass transit or high-speed rail networks. Are self-sufficient towns a myth which no longer exist in reality or are they real places with real needs? I would argue that self-sufficiency, itself, is largely a myth. Most small towns have many ties, economic and otherwise, to the towns and cities nearby and they have needs just as the metros do. Mass transit, for example, would actually be very helpful in most small towns because people living there often have longer distance commutes to the cities where they work. Such a transit system would require different planning than the systems within metro areas. Commuters would probably have to drive a short distance to a hub where they could catch a train into the nearest metro area. Once established, mass transit would be more economical, safer and better for the environment than so many individuals driving solo, benefits which would be good for the entire state, including both metros and small towns. Like it or not, we are all connected by our economy, no matter where we live or work. Recent events demonstrate this very clearly. If small towns and metro areas are connected and self-sufficiency is a myth, then how would Bradley and Katz justify the claim that the needs of metro areas supersede the needs of small towns? If, however, they are correct and small towns are indeed irrelevant to the U.S. economy, can small town taxpayers stop paying federal income tax now?
- Mary
September 26, 2008 at 11:26am
Very insightful article, but unfortunately it appears the authors did extensive demographic and economic research without interviewing a single person. As some other posters have noted, perceived values and mores often trump demographic realities. Ask people in the small towns of Chester County, PA if they have any real connection to Philadelphia beyond the sports teams and some museum attractions, and for some employment. Despite relative physical proximity, the cultural disconnect is palpable. Even the people who work in the city (law firms, insurance companies, banks, advertising etc) jump on the highway or regional trains and hightail it out of there pretty quickly. In recent years there has been talk of "regionalism" in which local governments recognize their interconnectedness and seek regional solutions to public policy problems. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that one, though allegedly folks in "Chicagoland" have made progress. To those who promote "regionalism", I offer you the encouraging words of Spongebob Squarepants: "good luck with that!!" The authors of this article have a bag of microwave popcorn that was removed a minute too soon - a bunch of important kernels rest at the bottom waiting to be explored.
- Tyler
September 26, 2008 at 11:37am
Awesome comment, Steve.
- Keenan
September 26, 2008 at 11:49am
Dear TNR I've spent most of my life in small towns. Believe me, they are not the pure and unsullied edens that Sarah Palin talks about. Either she is wilfully blind or she needs new glasses.
- John from South Carolina
September 26, 2008 at 3:33pm
I moved to a small town from a large metro area 15 years ago. I had a highly idealized view of small town life, and thought by moving to the sleepy little town north of Cincinnati with the dazzling horse-drawn carriage parade and the Apple Festival that I would have an "old-fashioned" life. I lived in a house that was 110 years old and was only four blocks from the Golden Lamb ( a favorite photo-op stop for Bush-ites--you'd think they owned it -heck, maybe they do...) And while it was a singular pleasure to go into shops and the shopkeepers knew my name, I also got an education about life in a small town. It came during my first visit to a City Council meeting. Sitting there and obseriving the procedings, I was picking up on a vibe. I didn't trust my intuition, so I started asking some questions. I then learned of the good-ol' boy club that dominated the town and it's dealings, run in truth, by real estate interests. Then, when an old project to widen Main Street(my street) came up, my neighbors and I wanted to make sure it was done according to EPA regulations. My neighbors got threatening mail indicating "you don't know who you're dealing with--back off" and eventually false embezzlement charges were drummed up against the woman (she had just left her job to take on the Main Street Project full-time). They were run out of "Our Town" That is how they operate in this "Charming Little Town". Further south, in another small town near Cincinnati, I was to manage a coffee shop in an old building. It was gorgeous and was better equipped than most coffee shops I had worked in over the years. The man who owned it was blocked from opening at every turn by his ex-wife, who had some things to hide in regard to her indisretions with other council members. The council even fought for years to seize the property "by right of imminent domain". I think the house served as a constant reminder of her infidelity so they had to make it "go away". The cafe and beautiful gardens would have been a boon to a small village whose only claim to fame is two factories that spew acrid fumes. It would have hosted art shows and concerts, theatre and dance, and invested in the community. Talk about abuse of power. Situations such as these go on because they are done under the cover of darkness, despite sunshine laws. Small towns are just microcosms of big cities. Until we teach ethics in schools (people obviously aren't learning them at home) starting at an early age (it used to be called "Citizenship", I think) we will go on to have more Wall Street Debacles, and "Keating Five Scandals" where the perpetrators slink off to hide with their millions or even run for President. (Look it up, by the way, in case you forgot about that late 80's scandal. Keating and four senators were indicted in the Home State Savings Scandal, one senator plea bargained and squealed on the others. You guessed it... John McCain.)
- toby one
September 26, 2008 at 3:38pm
Now its the rural areas to host mass centers of crime and violence as they become part of the Metro areas. People have long ago fled the Urban areas for the burbs and the rural areas that have become the new Metros
- David L
September 26, 2008 at 6:55pm
Unless you've actually lived in both a small town and a large city, you are probably going to romanticize/idealize the one you know the best. It's just common sense to know that good people and "bad people" live anywhere/everywhere and willful ignorance to believe that "only in small towns" will you find hardworking, moral people. Although I guess meth is made and consumed mostly in rural areas. When I stop in "small towns" along my travel routes, I try to find whatever it is that their local shops specialize in. It's fun and you'll get things you can't readily find anywhere else (mostly because you wouldn't think to look). But I also think "my G-d I could never live here" (again). And I often here "I don't think I could live in Chicago". When questioned, their perception of daily life "in the City" revolves around their real or perceived experiences from "Down Town". Bottom line--this is just a political manipulation to create more drama and material for political ads.
- ericad
September 30, 2008 at 3:23pm
Small towns are also frequently places where meth production labs flourish, child abuse (sexualized or otherwise), and domestic abuse flourish because the police force is inadequate or crooked.
- jfwlucy
October 1, 2008 at 8:49am