New Census data: Americans are returning to the far-flung suburbs
Washington Post
By Emily Badger March 26
Quote:
During the housing bubble, Americans moved in droves to the exurbs, to newly paved subdivisions on what was once rural land. Far-out suburbs had some of the fastest population growth in the country in the early 2000s, fueled by cheap housing and easy mortgages. And these places helped redefine how we think about metropolitan areas like Washington, pushing their edges farther and farther from the traditional downtown.
In the wake of the housing crash, these same places took the biggest hit. Population growth in the exurbs stalled. They produced a new American phenomenon: the ghost subdivision of developments abandoned during the housing collapse before anyone got around to finishing the roads or sidewalks.
These scenes and demographic trends left the impression that maybe Americans had changed their minds about exurban living. New Census data, though, suggests that eight years after the housing crash, Americans are starting to move back there again.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...flung-suburbs/
I think a lot of people on the forum have been predicting this for a while. Of course, one years isn't enough to make a definitive judgment. But, it looks like sprawl is back.
Now of course, US cities are still doing better than they have in decades and are growing and attracting wealthier and better educated residents. Nothing suggests this will change anytime soon. An increasing number of Americans will like in dense walkable areas, with good public transit. But, they are largely the exception to the rule.
This isn't really surprising.
Most urban areas are already largely built out and the vacant land/allowable zoning for redevelopment is too small to compete with the cheap, plentiful land in the suburban exterior. In theory, we need upzoning in the "desirable to the middle class" core and more restrictive zoning in the outer regions, with transportation planning to match. But, neither is likely to happen given that land use policies are generally set by a web of little municipalities.
Sure the downtown high rises and "sexy" urban infill get all the attention (particularly on urban sites like this), but the generic suburbs are where most of us live. That is true even in urban cities like SF, BOS, DC, PHILLY, etc.
Hopefully, we can at least do a better job of redeveloping our existing "inner" suburbs to be a little more walkable and mixed-use. Rather then have them fall into decline as the middle class flees to new sprawl suburbs in the outter region.