--- --- # Smaller Cities Are Making a Comeback by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Aug 1, 2017 4:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Aug 1, 2017 4:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Smaller cities are making a comeback. Now all they need is jobs.**](https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/07/jobs-in-smaller-cities-private-sector-growth/535329/) By Aaron Renn in _CityLab_ **2\.** [**Iran is outgunning and outsmarting the U.S. across the Middle East. Here’s how.**](https://www.buzzfeed.com/borzoudaragahi/irans-plan-to-run-the-middle-east?utm%5Fterm=.tm6vj3yK1#.ojKEWQqv2) By Borzou Daragahi at _BuzzFeed News_ **3\.** [**What responsibility does the urban campus have to its city?**](http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Neighborhood-University/240743) By the _Chronicle of Higher Education_ **4\.** [**Having big tech companies police the web will do more harm than good.**](https://www.wired.com/story/tech-companies-policing-the-web-will-do-more-harm-than-good/) By Tara Wadhwa and Gabriel Ng in _Wired_ **5\.** [**The end of college football should be inevitable.**](https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/college-footballs-inevitable-end) By John Warner at _Inside Higher Ed_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ Five Best: Smaller Cities Are Making a Comeback ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4882145/smaller-cities-are-making-a-comeback/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4882145/smaller-cities-are-making-a-comeback/"},"headline":"Smaller Cities Are Making a Comeback","datePublished":"2017-08-01T16:00:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:37.566Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4882145/smaller-cities-are-making-a-comeback/","keywords":["Five Best Ideas","Iran","Innovation","Internet","College","Football","cities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/five-best-ideas/","name":"Five Best Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4882145/smaller-cities-are-making-a-comeback/","name":"Smaller Cities Are Making a Comeback"}}]}] ```