Newgeography.com - Economic, demographic, and political commentary about places

I grew up among people who worshipped the key pillars of the twentieth century Democratic Party: the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt, and the great public works project known as New York City. The Democrats then were the party of progress—of new roads, bridges, ports, factories, and laboratories.  read more »

Electricity is the world’s most important and fastest-growing form of energy. More proof for that assertion came a few days ago when the International Energy Agency  read more »

Europe may be fading from global relevance, but its influence is expanding within the US Democratic Party. Today, the party’s core beliefs echo those espoused by the European Union  read more »

Last weekend there was a debate taking place on a very small corner of the Internet. It was about the Midwest’s culture and its impact on growth and development prospects.  read more »

Transit ridership dropped sharply with the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The slow rebound in the years that followed has prompted discussion, sometimes in hushed tones, as to whether transit had entered a “death spiral.” That ominous description refers to a situation where a decrease in ridership leads to lower farebox revenue, which in turn leads to service cuts, which further reduces ridership, and so on in a vicious downward cycle.  read more »

The Republican Party’s 2024 platform removed language calling for a national ban on abortion, causing consternation among social conservatives.  read more »

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 »

The last six weeks in American politics have been more tumultuous than anything I can remember in my lifetime.  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 »