The government l[is] ooking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.<\/p>\n
Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.
\n\u00a0
\nThe radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.<\/p>\n
Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.<\/p>\n
Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.<\/p>\n
\nMost are former industrial cities in the \u201crust belt\u201d of America\u2019s Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.\n
In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.<\/p>\n
I actually think this may be a good idea, apart from the high-handedness of government central planning. What do you think?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive : The government l[is] ooking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature. Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america"],"yoast_head":"\n
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