The New York Times > National > St. Louis Journal: For St. Louis, Great Expectations but a Slow-Rolling Renaissance

Better question is what are the goals of the city. I believe that the foundation of cities lie in density. Not that anyone can force density or require it, but that government should encourage it.

In cities that are hemmoraging people for decades and are broken, how can you recover that "swagger" that cities must have? Why not relieve some of the problems by reducing the amount of government regulation with codes and zoning? Not end safe building and fire codes, but allowing for more density, better streets and sidewalks, greater accessibilty.

The cities that have succeeded in the world need a few things, but government regulation isn't one of them.