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

Xi’an (pronunciation) is located in central China, on the Wei River, a tributary of the flood-prone Yellow River (Huang He). Xi’an is at the bottom of the “Ordos Loop” (see Surprising Ordos: The Evolving Urban Form), which is formed by the Yellow River’s sharp northward turn upstream at Lanzhou, toward Inner Mongolia (Nei Mongol).  read more »

The rapid transformation of the U.S. economy to “remote” during the pandemic—a switchover likely to endure in many respects after vaccinated immunity to Covid-19 is reasonably achieved—is gigantic testimony to the private sector’s adaptability.  read more »

As the nation continues to sort out the aftermath of a deeply divided presidential election, many narratives will emerge and citizens should be guarded and skeptical about them. This is because many in the media simply exaggerate reality. Monolithically ideological stories help polarize various readers into narrow views.  read more »

Denizens of the Great Lakes watershed long have looked at those five vast, deep, shimmering pools not only as an unmatched economic and cultural resource but also as the ultimate trump card.  read more »

Pandemic Changes Congestion

Until the pandemic, people’s choices were largely shaped by their workplaces and commutes. A 25-minute drive to work could become an hour and a half at rush hour.  read more »

If God gives you technology, use it to reach people!
~Rabbi David Eliezrie The Secret of Chabad

During this most miserable of years, religion, like virtually every major social institution, has been profoundly disrupted.  read more »

A crazy week with a *ton* of new items I'll only be able to partially get through in this post, including some followups to last week's post about California tech companies moving to Texas:  read more »

In the minds of most progressives, as well as some horrified conservatives, California is the harbinger of America’s future.  read more »

On December 1st, Hewlett-Packard–which has been headquartered in Silicon Valley since 1939–announced that its corporate headquarters would move to Houston.  read more »

A “resort” community where there is no central commercial resort can still be a one-industry economy. In the case of the South Fork of Long Island (aka “Hamptons”), the one trick is luxury housing. There’s an extensive commercial/labor ecosystem to support it.  read more »