You want something truly scary? Take a look at these mockups of what San Francisco might look like if we build all the housing that the developers say we need.
According to writer Greg Ferenstein, read more »
Urban IssuesSan Francisco With 200,000 More People — Would we be Better Off?
by Tim Redmond 12/26/2015
You want something truly scary? Take a look at these mockups of what San Francisco might look like if we build all the housing that the developers say we need. According to writer Greg Ferenstein, read more » People Rather than Places, Ends Rather than Means: LSE Economists on Urban Containment
by Wendell Cox 12/22/2015
“People rather than places” should be the focus of urban policy, according to Urban Economics and Urban Policy: Challenging Conventional Policy Wisdom. (paperback, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015 $39.95). The book is among the most effective critiques of contemporary urban planning thought, characterized by such approaches as urban containment, compact city, and densification. The authors are Paul C. Cheshire, Max and Nathan and Henry G. Overman, all economists at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Cheshire has a long list of publications analyzing urban planning policy. The authors characterize the central thesis of urban planning’s misdirected priorities stating that:
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The Cities Doing The Most To Address The U.S. Housing Shortage
by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox 12/17/2015
America is suffering from the severest undersupply of housing since the end of the Second World War. Although population growth has slowed significantly since the 1950s and 1960s, production has slowed down even more so. It’s not surprising that homebuilding declined after the housing bubble burst in 2008, but from 2011 to 2015 it continued to fall, dropping almost a quarter. read more » »
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Our Anemic Suburbs: Every Urban Area Needs its Outskirts — and New York City’s Are in Trouble
by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox 12/15/2015
New York City has prospered since the great recession of 2008, buoyed by an endless supply of free money from Washington that's elevated the stock and real estate markets. But the broader metro region has struggled, in an ominous sign of tougher times to come. Little acknowledged in the discussion of New York's "tale of two cities" is something beyond the control of Mayor de Blasio: the fading of the city's once-thriving suburbs, even as the city grows more populous and more expensive. read more » »
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Black Friday: Scenes From A Mall
by John Sanphillippo 12/11/2015
It’s Black Friday and I thought I’d do something out of character for me, but entirely in keeping with the season. I went to a shopping mall. For those of you not used to the customs of the United States, the day after Thanksgiving is the official start of the Christmas present purchasing period. Most people have off from work, kids don’t have school, so everyone hits the malls. read more » »
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2010-2012: More Modest Dispersion Within Metropolitan Areas
by Wendell Cox 12/10/2015
American cities seemed to be re-centralizing in the years immediately following the Great Recession, but new American Community Survey data indicates that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Americans continue to disperse though at a much reduced rate. The Census Bureau has just released the five year American Community Survey (2010-2014) small area data used by the City Sector Model to report on population trends within functional sectors of metropolitan areas. read more » »
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Losing the Narrative of Their Lives
by Sherry Linkon 12/09/2015
A study released a few weeks ago, conducted by Anne Case and Angus Deaton, documented a significant increase in the death rate among the white working class in the US, much of it due to suicide and substance abuse. In one interview about the report, Deaton suggests that the reason for the increase is the increasing economic insecurity this group faces. As he told Vox’s Julia Bellus, they have “lost the narratives of their lives.” Not surprisingly, op-eds flew right and left about this report, from Rod Dreher in The American Conservative and R.R. Reno in First Things to Paul Krugman in the New York Times and Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post. This study is the latest contribution to an expanding public discussion about changes in white working-class culture, which Jack Metzgar has traced in a series of posts here about books by Andrew Cherlin, Robert Putnam, and others. read more » »
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Los Angeles: City Of Losers?
by Joel Kotkin 12/08/2015
When I arrived in Los Angeles four decades ago, it was clearly a city on the rise, practicing its lines on the way to becoming the dominant metropolis in North America. Today, the City of Angels and much of Southern California lag behind not only a resurgent New York City, but also L.A.’s longtime regional rival, San Francisco, both demographically and economically. read more » »
How Oklahoma City Decided to Change Its Image
by Aaron M. Renn 12/07/2015
I was in Oklahoma City for the first time earlier this year. I got to see a lot of the things I’d heard about, such as the in-progress Project 180, a $175 million plan to rethink and rebuild every downtown street. read more » »
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How Many People Will Live in Africa in 2050 and 2100?
by Sami J. Karam 12/03/2015
Large declines in fertility will depend on raising female literacy above 80%. Every few years, the United Nations Population Division releases demographic projections for the entire world and for every country, region and continent. Although the UN’s database is the most used source on demographics, the data is not equally reliable for all countries. read more » »
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