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Don't Take Yearly Census Estimates Too Seriously
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 08/16/2013 - 2:07pmEvery year, the Census comes out with estimates of county population. Because the 2011-12 estimates showed big gains for most urban counties, urbanists were happy to declare victory, and to claim that these estimates showed a movement of population back to cities. In other years, Census ... read more »
Sorry Ms. Dunham: Millenials Like New York
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 08/09/2013 - 10:35amYesterday, I posted about the relationship between millenials and cities, showing that in some cities, population growth is indeed due to growth in the millenial (20-34) population, while in others, millenials are leaving the city just like everyone else. But of course, citywide data is often ... read more »
Yes, The Millenials Really Are Returning To (Some) Cities
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 08/08/2013 - 3:09pmIt is becoming almost a cliche that millenials (that is, people in their 20s) are flocking to cities. But does data bear this out?
I looked at Census data on two cities that had lost population throughout the late 20th century but gained people in the 2000s: Philadelphia and Washington, DC. (W... read more »
A Choice, Not An Echo
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 08/05/2013 - 10:09amIn the most recent City Journal, Joel Kotkin wrote an article discussing cities' alleged loss of children, and arguing that cities would be more successful in retaining children if only they could be more like low-density suburbs.
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Confusing Suburbs With Rural Areas
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 9:08amA recent article discussed in the Atlantic blog suggests that suicide rates increase as density goes down, especially below 300 people per square kilometer (i.e. 777 people per square mile). The title of the article: "The Unsettling Link Between Sprawl and Suicide."
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Cities Just Can't Win With Some People
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 07/10/2013 - 3:47pmI just read an attack (or at least an expression of concern about) gentrifiation of urban neighborhoods in the New Geography blog; Cleveland blogger Richey Piiparinen complains that the people moving back to the city are mostly white, and that this is b
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The Times' Attack on Gentrification: Sloppy, Sloppy, Sloppy
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 07/07/2013 - 9:16pmIn a recent article entitled "Gentrifying Into the Shelters", the New York Times blamed homelessness on middle-class New Yorkers who dare to move into the city's poorer neighborhoods.
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More Density for Bigger Cities
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 05/02/2013 - 9:29amI recently have noticed lots of comments in blogs and listservs on ideal densities. But the ideal density for a city or a neighborhood (if there is such a thing) depends on context.
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Why? The smaller the city, the less density you need for walkability.
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Are The Poor Being Forced Into Suburbia?
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 04/21/2013 - 8:47pmI recently read a blog post explaining that smart growth and urban infill are not so smart because it forces poor people into suburbia. The logic behind this claim is, as far as I can tell, as follows: 1) infill means rising real estate values in cities, (2) rising real estate values mean... read more »
Our Three Environments
Submitted by barefooturbanist on Thu, 03/21/2013 - 8:42amIn the science-fiction classic THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, the hero finally escapes from his house into his front yard. His once normal world is now to him a limitless universe. This, he knows, is conatined within an even more limitless universe; that of the earth in the solar system, ... read more »