The Rise of the Suburbs

Joel Kotkin reports:

In the 70s, we had a steeper increase in energy prices and the urban population actually dropped. This pattern has gone on for a long time. In the 20s, the change started. In recent decades, urban growth is in suburbanized cities like Phoenix, Houston and L.A. You have immigration and more people being born than dying. The flows are interesting. The shift to smaller more livable cities has been quite strong. There has been a negative out-migration from big cities and I think the next movement will be into even smaller cities. About 16 of the 20 fastest growing are small cities.

The population is moving more to the suburbs than into the city. It’s just not the case that people are moving into the cities. When you live in New York, you don’t realize that people are moving more out than in. Many more empty nesters move out than in. About 70 percent stay put. They want a suburban village. So they may move further out or to a small town.

The two biggest increases in activities are gardening and birding and you don’t do that in a high-rise condo.

You'll want to read this whole article.High energy prices are no friend of the big ,old ,industrial cities.