Urban Issues

Delayed decision-making, bureaucratic dithering, and the stubborn resistance of NIMBYs have all been frequently cited as planning-related barriers to the development of much-needed housing.  read more »

This article describes work access in the Los Angeles combined statistical area (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties) from 1980 to 2022, using US Census Bureau data.  read more »

In a post-7 October world, many have finally woken up to the reality that the locus of anti-Semitic sentiment now resides on the left.  read more »

Joseph Lawler’s learned essay on induced demand, looking at the case of highway expansion in Austin, Texas, is fair-minded, but somehow seems more about theory than actual reality. He talks about downtown as if it really mattered all that much. It doesn’t.  read more »

Age is a big deal. We saw just how big a deal it is from the deterioration of President Biden evident during the recent debate with Donald Trump. There’s a growing sense that the world is being run by a gerontocracy  read more »

KPMG Australia analysis shows the country is in the midst of a baby recession as births across the country fall by 4.6 per cent year on year.  read more »

The new data on net domestic migration between major metropolitan areas (more than 1,000,000 residents) over the last three years (July 2020 to July 2023) shows a strong movement of people away from higher urban densities to lower urban densities.  read more »

Read Part 1. Read Part 2.

Time to answer that question: what would a 2016 Olympics meant to Chicago? After looking at the examples of the last two American Olympics, in Los Angeles in 1984 and Atlanta in 1996, I’ve come to some conclusions on how it could have played out in the Windy City.  read more »

For more than 75 years America has been dispersing away from dense urban cores, with nearly all population growth in neighborhoods with a suburban form  read more »

Read Part 1

When I asked the “what if” question about Chicago being awarded the 2016 Olympics, it was just prior to the event itself. I noted some possible outcomes of a Chicago Olympics, but eight years beyond that today offers even greater perspective.  read more »