As an urban planner, I have now and then pondered the impacts that September 11th had on the field of urban and regional planning. While I am certain city planners in New York City can better describe the direct and immediate impacts than I could, I thought I would at least note five of my observations from 650 miles away and ten years since those terrible and tragic events.

Cities are remarkable places that have amazing resiliency.

During my 2010 visit to New York City, I was very impressed by its palpable pride and resiliency. I felt similar vibes in Oklahoma City during a visit there in 2006. Despite horrific recent tragedies in both of these cities, they have rebounded quickly and are marching forward to a new horizon.

Other examples from history dot the planet – Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chicago, Halifax, London, etc. While there are some examples of resiliency not occurring (i.e. Pompeii), cities most often have an amazing knack for bouncing back from manmade and natural disasters.

Rebounding from a long-term economic decline is much harder than from a disaster.

While I fully believe Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and other similar classic industrial cities will eventually return to their former luster, the road to economic recovery is much more difficult than the road to disaster recovery. John Norquist made the following observation when comparing Detroit and Berlin:

“To better understand urbanism on both sides of the Atlantic, let’s compare Detroit and Berlin. My father, an US Army medic, survived three and one half years as a POW, returned home. He married and then honeymooned in Detroit, Michigan in January of 1946. Detroit was the world’s most productive city in World War II, producing airplanes, tanks and bombs. And judging from my parents’ home movies Detroit was also a vibrant, bustling city. The streets were filled with shoppers on Woodward Avenue with three department stores the size of London’ Harrods. The trams were packed with commuters. At the same time Berlin lay in ruins with nearly 80 percent of its buildings damaged beyond repair. Today it is completely rebuilt; even the gash created by the Cold War wall is gone. Potsdamer Platz, the main intersection of pre-war Berlin, once trapped in the no man’s land between east and west, is reborn and as lively as Piccadilly. It is Detroit that now looks like the epicenter of the world’s most destructive war. The trams are gone, the shoppers and stores are gone, even the hotel where my parents visited is padlocked.” (Norquist)

For New York City, Washington, and Oklahoma City, they may have taken an evil sucker punch in the gut, but they never let themselves get their daubers down. I think this is partially due to the outpouring of love, support, and comfort that came from the entire nation,

For classic industrial cities, the feeling of isolation and national abandonment is much harder to overcome, in part because they are not “feeling the love,” like the cities cited above did. One caveat to this observation is New Orleans – while southern, I feel it falls more into the classic industrial category than a Sunbelt oasis of prosperity due to its age and confined location. Even though it was a natural disaster and the country came to the city’s aid, there are apparently deeper issues going on in New Orleans than a hurricane.

Aesthetically pleasing design with safety and security in mind has improved in the past decade.

Initially, security often consisted of ugly concrete barriers that detracted from the aesthetics of the site and the city. Today, new building and landscape design is often (not always) blended with security to provide a more pleasant exterior appearance. One could say a whole new genre of design has developed since Oklahoma City and 9/11 which could be called “tasteful fortress.”

The predicted dispersion and decentralizing of cities has not take place.

Thank goodness we did not let fear overrun us to the extent where sprawl and urban dispersion became the accepted method of increasing safety and security. Many new and eye-popping skyscrapers have been built-in the post-9/11 era in the United States and around the world; many urban centers are teaming with new life, excitement, and vitality as today’s generation(s) rediscover the joys of urban living; and many cities thrive as the most creative and innovative places on Earth. As an urban planner, the revitalization and rediscovery of our cities, especially the classic industrial ones, is heartening and the most pleasing aspect of the past decade.

Cities remain the greatest invention and longest-lasting experiment of humankind.

My guess is this last observation is fairly self-explanatory and goes hand-in-hand with the previous one. But, there was a strong chance in the aftermath 9/11 where city populations might have dispersed or cities lost their prominence on the world stage. That has not happened and in most places, their as the economic lifeblood and entrepreneurial engines of progress has been greatly enhanced.

Cities serve as innovative nuclei that allow for the ebb and flow of ideas, creativity, culture, goods, services, and people. No other human invention is (or has been) as efficient, effective, or productive as cities. As an urban planner, I find this single fact to be both the most satisfying and encouraging aspect cities.

Just imagine where society would be without our great cities and then envision the bright promise these same cities hold for us in the future. It has to bring a warm smile to your face. I know it does to mine. : )