Urban Issues

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 »

I have been teaching at the collegiate level for almost two decades. One of the biggest challenges I now face compared to years ago is social media’s toxic influence on students. The rampant misinformation on many platforms has warped students’ understanding of history and has caused lasting damage.  read more »

Nearly three months ago, I suggested that trying to get people to live in high-density housing projects was a good way to “kill a country” by reducing fertility rates. Not everyone was persuaded; one comment stated that  read more »

Three decades ago, author Steve Toulmin published a book in which he argued that the cosmopolis constitutes the true “agenda of modernity.”  read more »

When I heard that New York University (NYU) was creating a new campus not in some global capital but in Oklahoma—the fairly conservative west-south-central region of the United States—I was shocked, but also thrilled.  read more »

According to the 2021 census, Hong Kong grew from a population of 7.337 million in 2016 to 7.413 million. This article describes the population and population densities of Hong Kong and its major areas.  read more »

Who said the following? “The basic objective of our Nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy.  read more »

It’s in the job title: Planner.

Most government planners — pretty much the transport and housing sectors are what we are discussing today — became planners to meet their personal need to impose order on chaos, to improve society, and, in theory, help everyone even if they need a nudge or two along the way.  read more »

The recent announcement that Ian Jacobs, a scion of the famous Toronto-based Reichmann real estate clan, was coming to buy upwards of $900 million of San Francisco real estate, has offered the beleaguered California city a rare moment of hope.  read more »

If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can find it here.

Yonah Freemark, a senior research associate with the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, is someone I had the occasion of meeting a couple times in my career. A little more than ten years ago he worked for Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council, an independent nonprofit organization created in 1934. MPC’s mission then, and since, has been to challenge inequity and create stronger Chicago neighborhoods and communities.  read more »