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Stuck in a Policy Blindspot: America’s First Suburbs in Transition

Robert Puentes
Robert Puentes is the Vice President and Director of Brookings Metro.
Robert Puentes Vice President and Director - Brookings Metro

April 23, 2006

In this presentation at the American Planning Association’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio Texas, Robert Puentes discusses the challenges of older, inner-ring “first” suburbs. In it, he argues that first suburbs are caught in a policy blindspot between the benefaction long directed toward central cities for problems like housing and economic investment and the new attention being lavished on fast-growing outer suburbs, where demands for new infrastructure and services take precedence.

More on First Suburbs

The metro program hosts and participates in a variety of public forums. To view a complete list of these events, please visit the metro program’s Speeches and Events page which provides copies of major speeches, PowerPoint presentations, event transcripts, and event summaries.