http://urbantimes.co/2014/04/cities-are-growing-faster-than-suburbs/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=Daily+Digest
Hello Everyone:
Now that I've rid myself of the stench of really ugly architecture, it's time to move onto another subject. The new subject up for discussion is the suburbs. Specifically, trusted citizen Kaid Benfield, in a blog post for Urban Times titled "The Time Has Come For Cities to Outgrow Their Suburbs," examines new data that shows that the growth of cities is outpacing the growth of suburbia. Before going any further, I have to note that this is a community post, untouched by the editors. New information confirms the fact that urban centers are growing fasters than their neighboring suburbs. This relatively new trend is the reverse of a century of the opposite, city dwellers heading for the suburbs while sprawl consumed the countryside. To be fair, suburbs are also growing but those of us city dwellers can take comfort in the fact that the cities are back.
In a recent article, "See ya, Suburbs: More want to live in the big city," published in USA Today Greg Toppo and Paul Overberg summarize data from a new a new census report:
...[Harbor East symbolizes] a population shift taking place across the nation, reflected in new data released by the Census Bureau. It finds that population growth has been shifting to the core counties of the USA's 381 metro area, especially since the economic recovery began gaining steam in 2010. Basically the USA's urban core is getting denser, while far-flung suburbs watch their growth decline.
Driven by young professionals and retiring Baby Boomers who like living in cities, the trend is '180 degrees from the last decade's rush to the exurbs, says William Frey, a demographer at Washington's Brookings Institution... (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation.2014/03/27/census.../6863219)
As late as the previous decade, growth in the outer ring counties has exceeded growth in the core counties when the national data was collected. Mr. Benfield also referenced the fact that this shift is already happening in the metro areas. However, according to Brandon Donnelly, "core counties in the US grew approximately 2.7% and outlying counties grew approximately 1.9% from 2010-2013. Most of the growth came from net migration, as opposed to higher birth rates."
Kaid Benfield first examined the new information on central-city growth in a 2012 article and earlier this year analyzed the range of data which led him to conclude that this is a lasting trend. This is good news fro the environment because it means less of the countryside will give way to rampant suburban sprawl, common in the late twentieth century. First, by focusing more on growth in the existing communities, drive times are significantly reduced because of the shorter travel distance. These shorter distances are the product of centralized travel distances and concurrent emissions of carbon and air pollution. Second, urban densities make public transit easier as well as walking and bicycling. Third, development in urban cores recycles land, buildings, and the infrastructure while reducing pressure on water resources, farm, and forest lands.
Kaid Benfield concludes that if you care about the environment, you should be rooting for cities, albeit they need to be made more beautiful and lovable as wonderful places for people to inhabit. There's more good news, it's not just people that are coming back to the cities, investments are returning to the cities as well. In a March 31 article in The Atlantic Cities, Richard Florida breaks down the data from eleven metropolitan areas and finds that, in most cases, an equal or greater amount of the majority of venture capital investment is being funneled to central city and walkable suburb zip codes, not the sprawling outer areas. The exception to this is Philadelphia, Dallas, and San Jose. In seven out of the eleven metropolitan area, center city start-ups took in more than half of all venture capital investment. Oddly, San Francisco now attracts more [tech] start-up capital than Silicon Valley. (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2014/03/urban.../8749/
Richard Florida believes that the benefits of the urban areas are feeding this new trend:
Firms want access to talent, and talented people like to cluster in dense urban areas with thick labor, abundant amenities and services, and vibrant social life. Density is also much more efficient for young companies who want to rent cheap office space and offer employees access to amenities like gyms, restaurants, and coffee shops that they'd have to provide for for themselves on a suburban campus. And these companies can thrive in smaller urban spaces, as much of tech increasingly focused on software, app, social media, which do not require large campuses.
Mr. Florida concedes, this doesn't mean that all is well in the big city. Increased demand means higher prices which can lead to possible unaffordable housing and displacement of long-term, low income residents (already happening). Kaid Benfield tends to see this as a the lesser problem then disinvestment and overall decline in city services-a real problem that needs to be addressed. Cities need to be environmentally and economically sustainable as well as equitable and just.
Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen
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| Union Square San Francisco, California sanfrancisco.about.com |
Now that I've rid myself of the stench of really ugly architecture, it's time to move onto another subject. The new subject up for discussion is the suburbs. Specifically, trusted citizen Kaid Benfield, in a blog post for Urban Times titled "The Time Has Come For Cities to Outgrow Their Suburbs," examines new data that shows that the growth of cities is outpacing the growth of suburbia. Before going any further, I have to note that this is a community post, untouched by the editors. New information confirms the fact that urban centers are growing fasters than their neighboring suburbs. This relatively new trend is the reverse of a century of the opposite, city dwellers heading for the suburbs while sprawl consumed the countryside. To be fair, suburbs are also growing but those of us city dwellers can take comfort in the fact that the cities are back.
 |
| The St. Louis Arch at night St. Louis, Missouri en.wikipedia.org |
...[Harbor East symbolizes] a population shift taking place across the nation, reflected in new data released by the Census Bureau. It finds that population growth has been shifting to the core counties of the USA's 381 metro area, especially since the economic recovery began gaining steam in 2010. Basically the USA's urban core is getting denser, while far-flung suburbs watch their growth decline.
Driven by young professionals and retiring Baby Boomers who like living in cities, the trend is '180 degrees from the last decade's rush to the exurbs, says William Frey, a demographer at Washington's Brookings Institution... (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation.2014/03/27/census.../6863219)
 |
| Durham, North Carolina durham_pictrianglehousehunter.com |
Kaid Benfield first examined the new information on central-city growth in a 2012 article and earlier this year analyzed the range of data which led him to conclude that this is a lasting trend. This is good news fro the environment because it means less of the countryside will give way to rampant suburban sprawl, common in the late twentieth century. First, by focusing more on growth in the existing communities, drive times are significantly reduced because of the shorter travel distance. These shorter distances are the product of centralized travel distances and concurrent emissions of carbon and air pollution. Second, urban densities make public transit easier as well as walking and bicycling. Third, development in urban cores recycles land, buildings, and the infrastructure while reducing pressure on water resources, farm, and forest lands.
 |
| CicLAvia Los Angeles articles.latimes.com |
Kaid Benfield concludes that if you care about the environment, you should be rooting for cities, albeit they need to be made more beautiful and lovable as wonderful places for people to inhabit. There's more good news, it's not just people that are coming back to the cities, investments are returning to the cities as well. In a March 31 article in The Atlantic Cities, Richard Florida breaks down the data from eleven metropolitan areas and finds that, in most cases, an equal or greater amount of the majority of venture capital investment is being funneled to central city and walkable suburb zip codes, not the sprawling outer areas. The exception to this is Philadelphia, Dallas, and San Jose. In seven out of the eleven metropolitan area, center city start-ups took in more than half of all venture capital investment. Oddly, San Francisco now attracts more [tech] start-up capital than Silicon Valley. (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2014/03/urban.../8749/
 |
| Baltimore, Maryland Robert McClintock robertmcclintock.com |
Firms want access to talent, and talented people like to cluster in dense urban areas with thick labor, abundant amenities and services, and vibrant social life. Density is also much more efficient for young companies who want to rent cheap office space and offer employees access to amenities like gyms, restaurants, and coffee shops that they'd have to provide for for themselves on a suburban campus. And these companies can thrive in smaller urban spaces, as much of tech increasingly focused on software, app, social media, which do not require large campuses.
Mr. Florida concedes, this doesn't mean that all is well in the big city. Increased demand means higher prices which can lead to possible unaffordable housing and displacement of long-term, low income residents (already happening). Kaid Benfield tends to see this as a the lesser problem then disinvestment and overall decline in city services-a real problem that needs to be addressed. Cities need to be environmentally and economically sustainable as well as equitable and just.
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