New Urbanization

[iheartthed]

I know nothing about Newark but it's geographically a very small densely populated city compared to Detroit. While there may be similarities with redeveloping the core, it has nothing on the scale of Detroit's abandonment problems.

Newark is dense on paper but does have a lot of issues with vacant lots and abandoned buildings that are familiar to Detroiters.

[Bham1982]

Newark is 7-8 miles from Manhattan, hence revitalization/gentrification is inevitable. It's like a 25 minute subway ride to the WTC. When you're a short train ride from the most important business center on the planet, it's probably a good long-term bet.

Also, while Newark has some terrible areas, it also has some great urban neighborhoods. The Ironbound is, at least urbanistically, about as good as it gets in the U.S. Newark's Westside is the problem area. Northside is so-so.

Not really comparable to Detroit outside of the basic "U.S. city with urban ills" themes.