Where in Town am I?

It takes a few years in a diverse city to get a good feel for what to expect in different neighborhoods.  When I could estimate apartment prices well for nearly any area in the city, I found I had a lot of other information too: which areas were becoming cooler, which were filled with subdivided apartments, which were in decline. 

This information is in constant flux and is renewed through visits with friends, walking around, and checking the ubiquitous windows of real estate storefronts.

Defining this Journal

This is a journal of my thoughts on how cities create value. Value is measured in terms of quality of life for citizens, along with, more concretely, real estate value in monetary terms. Though I will try to keep a broad perspective, my immediate experience of the last 20 years is in Tel Aviv, Israel.  Many of my examples will be drawn here, close to home, in a city that has experienced surprising stability and steady increase in the value of its real estate.