So, I groaned a bit when I first heard of the Atlantic‘s new Richard Florida-branded website about cities. Truthfully, I was imagining something with his headshot at the top, replete with stories ranking the hipster quotient of metropolitan areas and whatever.

My hopes were bouyed somewhat by the hiring of former DCist editor Sommer Mathis, and even more with her assurance that Florida would function more as a contributor rather than an active overseer of the site. A week after the site’s launch, that optimism has been totally vindicated. Browsing through The Atlantic Cities is like being a kid in a candy shop: You pretty much want to read everything. My favorite posts so far include a look at trailer parks as affordable housing, a write-up of a study on improving policing as budgets fall, and news about the travails of South Sudan as it plans a new capital city.

There’s still time for it to go downhill, of course. As it matures, I’d love to see more content from people on the ground doing work in cities around the globe, and longer-form pieces that take deeper looks at problems across jurisdictions. But for now, it’s bringing me more from the wide, wonky world of urbanism than I’d ever been able to get in one place. Thanks, Atlantic!