Photo courtesy Dean Saitta/Planetizen
Aurora Rising
August 14, 2017 by Dean Saitta/Planetizen
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This rapidly diversifying community is one to watch as planning for cultural inclusion, social equity, and environmental sustainability become priorities for the American city.
The Aurora of which I speak... it’s Aurora, Colorado. One of the great revelations of the 2017 Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute (RMLUI) annual conference on "Creating Inclusive Communities" that I wrote about here was learning more about Denver's rapidly urbanizing neighbor to the east.
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What about Aurora's demographics?
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Given its burgeoning immigrant and refugee population, Aurora is making major strides to accommodate cultural diversity. Indeed, the city can be considered a national leader in this effort.
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Pretty interesting article actually.
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The most significant influx of immigrants and refugees began in 2007. A decade later, over 20 percent of Aurora's population is foreign born. The major ethnic groups by population size are Mexican, Ethiopian, Salvadoran, Korean, and Vietnamese. A new Salvadoran consulate opened in the city earlier this year.
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True personal story
My son lives in nice stable area of North Phoenix and the diversity is amazing, from white to black and all shades of brown. We made note of the various types one day in the grocery store. There's a lot of Russian/Eastern European immigrants in the area, ofc Hispanic and plenty of middle eastern residents as well.
There's three Goodwill stores within about a ten minute drive of where Jeremey lives and we have fun shopping for 'bargains.' I outfitted Jeremy with the best clothes that money can buy and when you develop your 'eye' you can find near-new pants & shirts with the dry cleaners tag still attached. Polo, Cooke Street, Roundtree & York, Banana Republic etc and lots of private label stuff. Same thing with shoes; love those Vans and Nike SB's. Tons of father-son fun in the process.
The other point is that it doesn't matter where in the world families are from; you notice and compliment their children and watch their faces just light up.
Oh and the restaurants. One of my favorites is simply a British place called the Codfather; great fish 'n chips.
It's hard to quantify the contribution made by Phoenix's diverse population but it is immense.
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Hook, line, sinker.... caught ya.
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