Suburbs

Are Progressives to Blame for the Worsening Housing Crisis?

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In recent years, housing has emerged as arguably the key driver of class divisions in the Western world. For decades, working- and middle-class people could dream reasonably about buying a house  read more »

Millions Move Away from Density in Just Three Years

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Between 2020 and 2023 (annual population estimates, as of July 1), more than 3.2 million US residents moved from counties with higher urban population densities (number of urban residents divided by urban square miles), to counties with lower urban densities.  read more »

Progressive Geography's Intellectual Dead End

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Americans are familiar with steep political divisions on issues like race, class, and gender. Perhaps less understood, but arguably more definitive, is the widening gap between the cognitive elites concentrated in big cities and the rest of the country.  read more »

Massive Shift from Urban Cores to Suburbs and Elsewhere

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Moving Away from the Major Metros: The recent Census Bureau population estimates release revealed a massive shift of domestic migrants away from the major metropolitan areas  read more »

Americans Moving to More Affordable Areas

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In recent years, driven by the rising cost of living and the remote work revolution, Americans have been moving to more affordable housing markets. This is evident in an analysis of American Community Survey data gathered over five years (2018 to 2022).

Housing Affordability and Net Domestic Migration: The Nexus  read more »

Let America Sprawl

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Americans, with little help from government, are reinventing themselves and boosting their prospects by settling in less expensive, less regulated regions where rents and house prices are more affordable.  read more »

Transportation Policy and the Ukrainians

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The dominant philosophy that guides North American land use and transportation policy is advocacy of car ownership. The logic is simple. If you have a car you have automatic access to a wide variety of geographic employment options at any time of the day or night regardless of weather.  read more »

Whatever Works

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Sometimes a story takes a number of years to ripen. And sometimes two or three stories merge in unexpected ways. I just had a moment of convergence when new infill development, sub rosa adaptation, and wartime migration all collided.  read more »

A Factory in the Countryside Run on Part-time Jobs?

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It has often been observed that many a new revolutionary idea, no matter how true it turns out to be, looks completely crazy at first. In this post I shall make the case that the idea of factories in the countryside run on part-time jobs falls into that category.  read more »

The Work from Home Revolution: Data and Policy Implications

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The rise of remote and hybrid work has brought about a significant shift in how people access employment opportunities, reducing the need for physical commuting. This article examines the latest data  read more »