CityLab Daily: Rising and Razing in St. Louis

Square the circle: At the end of July, the mobile payment company Square announced it would be investing in a new space and a significantly larger workforce in downtown St. Louis, where company founders Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey grew up. Dorsey is injecting half a million dollars into the St. Louis Blight Authority, a private group that will help the city demolish some of its 7,000 vacant buildings. “The effect of St. Louis’ efforts will increase the value of central city neighborhoods while demolishing and depreciating the north side,” writes Michael Allen, a lecturer in urban design at Washington University in St. Louis.