Urban Issues

The Road to Neo-Feudalism

1950s_family_Gloucester_Massachusetts_USA.jpg

For middle- and working-class people across the developed world, home ownership has served as a primary driver of upward mobility. But in a growing number of places, this aspiration is being systematically undermined  read more »

April 2024 Transit Ridership 74.6% of 2019

TransportApril2024b.jpg

Transit systems carried less than 75 percent as many riders in April 2024 as in the same month before the pandemic  read more »

The Demographic Dilemma: How Urban Planning is Deepening Australia’s Social Divide

quantify-strategic-insights.png

For over two decades, urban planning’s preoccupation with urban form above all else, has diminished its ability to resolve the growing social and economic divide occurring across the nation.  read more »

Envisioning Rust Belt Success

rust-belt.png

My Defining Rust Belt Urbanism piece three weeks ago, in which I discuss the themes of what would drive Midwest urban rebirth, prompted a great question.  read more »

How California Became a Warning to the World

downtown-la-homeless-encampment.jpg

For generations, California has led the world in creating cutting-edge ideas and opportunities for newcomers.  read more »

Are Progressives to Blame for the Worsening Housing Crisis?

Residential_area_in_Whittier_California_1.jpg

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

Kaufman_county_tx_courthouse.jpg

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 »

Universities And Urban Transformation

north-central-college.jpg

I’ve always been intrigued by the role of universities in the growth and development of cities. It’s well known that universities can have an outsized role on smaller towns and cities  read more »

Why Johnny Can't Build

flooded-road-collapse.jpg

We were once a nation of builders—from the toll roads and canals of the early nineteenth century and the railroads of the second half of that busy century, to the construction of power, energy, and water systems that were the envy of the world.  read more »

Demographia International Housing Affordability – 2024 Edition Released

2024-demographia-intl-housing-affordability.jpg

Demographia International Housing Affordability assesses housing affordability in 94 major markets across eight nations (Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom and the, United States).  read more »