Suburbia
Streetsblog Basics
Will Cities Hold on to Younger Residents as They Have Children?
Many American cities are proving to be more resilient than suburban areas thanks in part to the shifting preferences of today's young people. But as USA Today reported in a talked-about article earlier this week, the cohort that has flocked to cities is now reaching a stage of life which, historically, has been more closely associated with suburbia.
December 6, 2012
Study Predicts “Resilient Walkable” Places Will Lead the Housing Recovery
This morning, a Minnesota Public Radio host asked me if the exurbs, whose growth rate flattened when the recession hit, are going to come back. Lots of people from far-distant suburbs like Blaine and Farmington called in, saying they like the way of life out there – they like having acres of trees buffering them from their nearest neighbor -- and people won’t want to stop living in communities like that.
May 18, 2012
Brookings: Suburban-Style Zoning Linked to Educational Inequality
What do laws that mandate large yards and prevent walkable development have to do with educational opportunity? Turns out, there's an important connection.
April 27, 2012
The Incredible Shrinking Megastore: Retailers Think Outside the Big Box
They lord over empty parking lots in Hazard, Kentucky; Twinsburg, Ohio; and Lewiston, Washington like the ruins of a lost civilization. Vacant Walmart stores are slowly decomposing in more and more American towns these days. More than 100 of them have been memorialized as part of the group Flickr pool known smugly as “They Sold for Less.”
September 15, 2011
How Seniors Get Stuck at Home With No Transit Options
According to AARP, 88 percent of seniors want to stay in their own homes as long as they can. But where are those homes? In auto-dependent suburbs. That’s where most Baby Boomers grew up, in the postwar era, and that’s where most of them have stayed – even as the largest (and longest-living) generation ever enters its golden years.
June 14, 2011
Cul-de-Sacs Are Killing Us: Public Safety Lessons From Suburbia
People choose suburban neighborhoods over urban ones for myriad reasons: because they can afford it, because the schools are good, because it’s a quiet street, or crimes rates are low, or everyone walks around with baby strollers and golden retrievers, or their family is nearby. But countless other consequences stream from their decision of where to live.
June 7, 2011
Report: Want to Ease Commuter Pain? Highways and Sprawl Won’t Help
Imagine two drivers leaving downtown to head home. Each of them sits in traffic for the first ten miles of the commute but at that point, their paths diverge. The first one has reached home. The second has another twenty miles to drive, though luckily for her, the roads are clear and congestion doesn't slow her down. Who's got a better commute?
September 29, 2010
New Report Links Foreclosure Risk to Auto Dependence
Homeowners in car-dependent areas are at greater risk of foreclosure, according to a report released yesterday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that calls for mortgage underwriting standards to begin taking so-called "location-efficiency" into account.
January 28, 2010