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

Engineered California

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Nothing so illustrates the mindset of green politics, particularly in California, as the word “natural,” which is taken to mean unspoiled, pure, and better than the workings of man. Yet few places are as fundamentally artificial, if measured by its dependency on human intervention, as California.  read more »

Democracy Needs to Replace City Manager Ward System

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The rise of the city manager form of government during the first progressive era was welcomed as a significant reform and improvement over the often corrupt ward system that dominated beforehand.  read more »

Subjects:

Immersed in the Work of Art

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This summer, five different immersive Van Gogh opportunities are circulating in dozens of cities around the world, including Detroit, Buenos Aires, and Perth, Australia.  read more »

Demographia U.S. Housing Affordability – 2022 Edition Released

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Demographia United States Housing Affordability rates middle-income housing affordability, using the median multiple, a measurement of income in relation to housing prices, or 189 major markets (metropolitan areas) for the third quarter of 2021.  read more »

Forget College. Skilled Trades are the Future of the U.S. Economy

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America is suffering from a worker shortage, but a more persistent and perhaps even urgent problem is the profound lack of skills among younger Americans.  read more »

April Transit Falls to 58.7% of Pre-Pandemic Levels

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Transit ridership in April 2022 was 58.7 percent of April 2019, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Transit Administration. This is down from March  read more »

Is it Ethical to Purchase a Lithium Battery Powered EV?

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With numerous State Governor’s having issued executive orders to phase out the purchasing of gasoline driven cars within the next decade or so, and the automobile manufacturers efforts to phase into only manufacturing EV’s here’s some food for thought  read more »

Reconsidering the City

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Over five millennia, urban centers have been drivers of civilization and progress, and have adapted in ways that have changed their form and function but assured their survival. Today, they are about to undergo another critical transition that will determine their relative position in the decades ahead.  read more »

Tokyo, Osaka & Nagoya Cores: Migration Losses

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As Japan fell into population decline early in the last decade, the Tokyo area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures), in something of a paradox, experienced population increases.  read more »

Green Rope-a-Dope: China Watches as America Greens

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The color green has long been associated with envy, but increasingly it’s becoming a pigment of mass delusion. Amid near-hysterical reporting about the climate, the U.S., and much of the West, is embracing willy-nilly policies likely to weaken our economyand boost China’s ascendancy at the expense of democracy and market economies.  read more »