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Austin Wu on Muck Rack

Austin Wu

(He/Him)
Ann Arbor, Bellingham, Saint Paul
As seen in: Issuu, Yahoo News, Google Blog, The Hill, Product Hunt, The Epoch Times, University Of Iowa, Des Moines Register, The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA), The Daily lowan and
Covers:  Local history, urban planning and design, transportation, historic preservation
(vague lyrics about history or economics) // gini coefficient appreciation squad (he/him) 🔰🚰

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Austin Wu’s Biography

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Austin Wu has written extensively for a variety of publications in the American state of Iowa and beyond about local history and urban design, especially in how taking cues from historic forms of vernacular development can be a pathway towards deceased automobile dependence and more sustainable, healthier ways of urban living.

Austin Wu’s Journalist Portfolio

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The "Donut", with sprinkles: taking stock of the Star Tribune's recent homage to suburbia

The "Donut", with sprinkles: taking stock of the Star Tribune's recent homage to suburbia

Discussing the consequences of suburban migration and responding to a recently-published Star Tribune article.

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Book Review: Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States

Book Review: Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States

This is a book review of Living Downtown, a book about the history of rooming houses and residential hotels i…

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A Modest Proposal for Infill Development in the Midway

A Modest Proposal for Infill Development in the Midway

Considering quonsets as one response to contemporary housing issues in the Midway and beyond

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Reorganizing Transportation Authority in the Twin Cities if Feds Cut Bike Money

Reorganizing Transportation Authority in the Twin Cities if Feds Cut Bike Money

Federal rollbacks on bike and pedestrian funding expose the weaknesses of Minnesota's fragmented transportati…

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Training Our Focus on the Second Trump Regime

Training Our Focus on the Second Trump Regime

With the uncertainty of federal funding, Minnesota has an opportunity to step up and provide local funding fo…

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Considering a 'Donut Theory' of Development in Minnesota

Considering a 'Donut Theory' of Development in Minnesota

Minnesota's suburban "donut" has devoured resources, jobs and hospitals - deepening decline in both rural tow…

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Articles

The "Donut", with sprinkles: taking stock of the Star Tribune's recent homage to suburbia

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By Austin Wu
| streets.mn
Austin Wu * July 22, 2026 Recently, I came across an article in the Star Tribune titled, " Suburbia is getting a millenial [sic] makeover" - tracking, and attempting to explain to some extent, recent demographic trends where young people are increasingly trading the cities for the suburbs. Last year, I wrote about a notion of a suburban "donut" in between Minneapolis-Saint Paul and deriving its heft not only from urban flight, but also from patterns of decline in rural Minnesota.
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Book Review: Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States

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By Austin Wu
| streets.mn
Abstract:  This is a book review of Living Downtown, a book about the history of rooming houses and residential hotels in the United States. In the review, I describe the contents and themes of the book, relating back to my own time living in a rooming house in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I discuss the implications of urban policy which banned rooming houses, their role in the future for urban housing and demographics, as well as the contents of the book as it relates to both.
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A Modest Proposal for Infill Development in the Midway

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By Austin Wu
| streets.mn
It’s a day that ends with “y”, which also means it’s a day to ruminate on whatever is to be done about the – not just the Snelling ‘superblock‘, but also its surrounding environs along University Avenue – a sea of vacant parking lots, gravel pits, and patches of grass for the better part of this decade.
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Interview

Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?

no