[URBAN NOTE] Five cities links: Plattsburgh, Montréal, Cincinnati, Palm Springs, Almaty

[rfmcdonald]

• The New York city of Plattsburgh is trying to limit Bitcoin mining locally, to avoid overusing its low electricity prices. VICE reports.


• The LA Review of Books shares a story of a visitor's engagement with the Montréal of Saul Bellow, here.


• Lyman Stone suggests that Cincinnati, even more than Pittsburgh, is in the middle of a noteworthy renaissance, over at In A State of Migration.


• Palm Springs, in the California desert, apparently is in the middle of an eye-catching renewal. The Globe and Mail reports.


• Open Democracy looks at this new effort to preserve the Soviet-era architectural heritage of Almaty, Kazakhstan's old capital city, here.