A recent Wall Street Journal article spoke on the antidote to America’s long economic malaise is college towns, using Auburn as an example.
As of last October, Lee County’s unemployment rate is 4.7%—slightly lower than the U.S. as a whole. The Journal reports Lee County has added 14,000 jobs, five times the growth rate in the rest of the country, since 2001.
A nationwide study by the Brookings Institute for The Wall Street Journal found 16 areas in the U.S. where overall job growth remains strong, despite manufacturing employment fell more sharply in those places from 2000 to 2014 than the rest of the country.
What do those 16 areas have in common? Half are home to a major Universities, including Athens, Ga., Charlotte, N.C. and Auburn.
According to the Brookings study, the counties in areas identified as resilient are home to those who voted for President-elect Donald Trump, with the majority vote of about 85%.
The Journal wrote Lee County economic-development officials have used Auburn to attract higher-tech companies to replace companies that shut down.
Phillip Dunlap, Auburn city’s director of economic development, told The Journal he can even be picky.
Dunlap looks for higher-paying companies employing 100 to 150 workers to make sure the area doesn’t get too dependent on one company, and he promises “never to recruit an industry that had smokestacks taller than the one on campus.”
The Journal reports he has discouraged tire companies, distributors and low-end assembly lines from coming to Auburn.
3-D printing is Auburn University and the city’s current focus, which will need considerable engineering research to become a manufacturing staple. The University bought the same 3-D printer that G.E. uses at its Lee County plant for students to learn how to use the machine.
Materials Engineering Professor Tony Overfelt told the Journal the new technology “will bring manufacturing back to this country.”
Stone Ray, sophomore in architecture, said he has concerns over the quick economic and population growth of Auburn, particularly because of an epidemic termed “urban sprawl.”
Urban sprawl is a term used to describe the expansion of human population away from a central urban area into low-density, mono-functional and usually car-dependent communities, in a process called suburbanization. It’s most often criticized for causing environmental degradation, intensifying segregation and undermining the existing urban areas.
The main argument is when people move into a suburban area, and must commute to go anywhere, it causes unnecessary congestion in streets.
“In a traditionally urban place you can have an array of houses, townhouses and shops and other things that are on a grid of streets that can be assessed by foot, bicycle or by automobile,” Ray said. “The current model is a problem with many cities, but especially in Auburn, because the zoning codes that are emplaced at the administrative level of the city aren’t envisioning it because they want [urban sprawl], they’re envisioning because it’s inadvertently sort of happening because of a domino effect of rules and regulations of the automobile.”
Ray said he is a self-proclaimed "urbanist."
“Nobody in Auburn is saying, ‘we’re going to make an unwalkable place full of traffic and congestion,’ no one is asking for that, but that’s a result of something when every development is required to have x amount of parking which means those people are more likely to drive,” Ray said.
Auburn is lucky to benefit from a growing economy, Ray said.
“The economy in Auburn is growing rapidly just like it’s population,” Ray said. “There’s a lot of different factors that go into that, and Auburn is very blessed to have that growth.”
Ray said he believes development is a direct result from the economic growth the city has seen over the years.
“The University is a powerhouse for jobs and faculty and research," Ray said. "The city of Auburn’s economic development and staff is really, really good at recruiting manufacturing jobs and businesses of that nature. Those events have earned Auburn this economic standard, I would say. Those people working here and moving here have caused the economy to rebound pretty starkly compared to the rest of the nation."
Money should be going to city buildings, Ray said.
“A long time ago, money used to go to our city buildings," Ray said. "The older buildings are the most beautiful—the old post offices and high schools. All of those old things were the most ornate buildings that really showcased human standing in the world as far as their wealth and talents.”
Schools and post offices don't get the chance to be the most beautiful parts of a city anymore, Ray said, because of where funds are allocated.
“Now a days, all of that money is carried to pay for infrastructure for those automobiles," Ray said. "That’s why when you go to cities today, the post offices and high schools are the ugliest because all of the money is put into the roads. The roads and highways are so big with ramps just to get people home. It’s unsustainable financially. It doesn’t make sense in the future.”
Ray said the growth can be compared to that of traffic in Atlanta, which is a common complaint of Georgia natives.
“Atlanta is a metropolitan region which has choked on itself," Ray said. "Everybody complains about the traffic in Atlanta. The traffic only seems to occur on the edges. The only time there’s traffic in downtown Atlanta is on the highways because it’s people trying to get from one edge to the other edge. If you actually get off the highway onto the grid of streets in downtown Atlanta, it’s actually pretty calm. In an urban setting, streets are on a grid. Theoretically, every time you have an intersection it cuts the traffic in half."
Ray said the path chosen is completely up to the individual.
"Humans actually get to decide the trajectory of their path," Ray said. "If there’s traffic on this road, I can turn and take the next one instead of being forced down sort of a sewer and being forced to waste so much time."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
