Blueprint Archives

In an anecdote that has become urban folklore, the famous Roaring 20s pilferer Willie Sutton was asked, “Why do you rob banks?” And he responded, “It’s where the money is.”

Early in the 1980s, when I was earning my keep as a freelance journalist, my brother Peter asked if I would write a newsletter for a fairly new organization he was managing called the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association. The assignment came with a great perk—attending the organization’s conference on Martha’s Vineyard. It was there that I first had the privilege of observing the creativity in strategic financial thinking that (IMHO) has characterized NH&RA throughout its history.

We take energy for granted. We know it’s there, someplace. Water is running, lights are on, food is cooking, and something somewhere is making it happen. But we can’t see it, like a new couch or a new car, we can’t flop onto it, jump into it, speed it up. It’s one thing to try to sell people something tactile and visible, it’s another to sell them an idea for something that is invisible and seems intangible.

Call it an exodus, call it a coincidence or call it a meme, but Americans are heading to the cities in the largest numbers since the Industrial Revolution changed a rural society into an urban society at the end of the 19th century. This latest great migration is from the center of the country towards all the edges. And it’s not surprising since the cities are beautiful. A month ago, I traveled from my home in beautiful Washington to Boston, Pittsburgh, Charleston and Atlanta and each of them was beautiful in its own quirky way.