I was all Yellow Alert when I read we were alone with Detroit in the not-quite-back-yet category among cities. For at least a decade, urban studies folks have warned Philly that there are two paths we can go down: one leading to Boston (read: comeback), and one leading to Detroit (read: collapse).

But when I googled around on the subject of cities and growth, I came upon this February post by Greg Heller, one of the city's smartest young planners.

(Wherein) Greg assesses a comparative Pew report on social and demographic trends in U.S. cities, one that ranks Philly a respectable 17th among Most Popular large cities (tied with New York, Dallas, and Chicago), from which he concludes

Well, for a city that many thought was headed the way of Detroit, in the early 1990s, I would say Philadelphia is looking pretty good. In fact, I would dare say that Philadelphia has pushed its way over the tipping point, and seems destined, for the foreseeable future, to remain as one of America’s up-and-coming big cities, headed on a positive trajectory.

Greg's optimistic forecast is derived from Philly's being favored by a lot of college graduates (people we desperately need):

Philadelphia is in the top ten cities preferred by college graduates. The report states that 38% of college graduates surveyed said they would like to live in Philadelphia. That rate ties with Washington D.C., and is just below Portland and Boston.

And he notes that, among all age groups, those most interested in moving to a city are 18-29:

there was one notable variance to this: respondents age 18-29 want to live in cities. Currently 28% of that age group reported living in a city, whereas 40% of that group reported wanting to live in a city. That was by far the highest jump between the two sections for any age group or living type area. Those of us who deal with urban demographics know that there is a new preference for young people to live in cities, but did we realize that the figure was so high?

I add: the 18-29 demographic is also likely to move here for college and a job. Now, colleges we've got covered (although the mayor's City College and state university ideas are worth pursuing to make us an even better draw).

Jobs we need to work on. The City's economic fortunes are tied to the national economy of course, so things are slow currently. But smart cities position themselves to be ready to take advantage of economic rises and trends when they come, to be a fertile bed where jobs and businesses can grow, as it were.

If we can do that, if we can grow jobs or a fertile business environment, the Pew study suggests we could quickly get on the right side of the growth trend. People want to be able to live here. If we can offer them jobs or a place they can start prosperous business, they can live here.

Build jobs and businesses, and from all over this nation, they will come.