Suburbs

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 »

Report: Building the New America

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This new report examines the housing trends that are driving today's migration of people and jobs, and suggests a strategy that better fits the aspirations of most Americans. Below is a summary of the report and a link to download the full report:  read more »

Skate Parks: Appreciating Another Third Place

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My young daughter was extremely excited when I pulled up to the large, two-level skate park in Riverhead, New York. I have been taking her brother there for many years and, despite her young age and small size, she wanted to take her scooter to the park.  read more »

Gen Z Wants Space

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When my Gen Z students graduated a few months ago, I noticed something unusual about their post-baccalaureate plans. For most of my teaching career, many of my students would move to New York City or other large cities to be at the center of the cultural zeitgeist and be connected with others.  read more »

The Question of "Developed" Land -- And Its Impact On Housing

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One of the often-used arguments from advocates for increasing housing supply in our nation's most expensive cities is that zoning policy, or the regulation of land use by local government, has kept an artificially low ceiling on housing development  read more »