As the country continues to see ripple effects from the pandemic, an air of crisis is hanging over some American cities. Headlines paint places like San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, and New York as circling the drain: spiking homelessness, unaffordable housing, water shortages, refugee influxes, fentanyl overdoses, rising crime. For growing midsize cities, gentrifying neighborhoods and expensive downtowns can stifle personality and character, leading to more corporate chains and homogenous five-over-one apartment buildings. Some of these national narratives may lack local context, but a common thread among all of them is disparity. If not grim, the future of the American city looks complex.