The reports of the suburbs death has been greatly exxagerated (Pittsburgh: 2015, rentals)

[tclifton]

Along with reports of the death of malls

Mall's Washed Up? Not Quite Yet - The Daily Beast

The notion of dead malls has been connected to a similar idea about the inevitable demise of the suburbs, which appeared possible at the height of the recession, but has since been shown to be largely false. Suburbs may not be booming as in the ’90s, but they are now growing as fast as core cities, and constitute more than 70 percent of all new population and 80 percent of new job growth since 2010.

Surprisingly, the most recent numbers suggest that the outer suburbs and exurbs, once consigned to Hades by the new urbanist crowd, have begun to roar back. Millennials, as they get older, notes Jed Kolko, now seem to be moving to what he calls “the suburbiest” areas farther out on the periphery.

It is in these areas that malls may have their greatest future.

[gg]

Pittsburgh? The daily beast?

[Merge]

Originally Posted by tclifton

Along with reports of the death of malls

Mall's Washed Up? Not Quite Yet - The Daily Beast

If you actually read the article and click on the links (written by a "scholar" from the exclusive Ivory Towers at Chapman Christian College in Orange, CA), you'll notice quite quickly that it's not the malls in the suburbs or exurbs that are doing well, but the high-end ones that are attached to the biggest cities in the US that are thriving. The links also point out that the "last frontier" for high-end shopping is in urban neighborhoods. It took a lot of contortions and plain ignorance of the facts for the author to "make his point".

This is actually the link that the author provides to back up his assertion that 400 malls in the US are doing well... Shopping Malls Are Going Extinct - Business Insider. I don't really see how that props up the author's rosy prognosis or his conclusion that the suburbs/exurbs are thriving along with the malls.

[UKyank]

I personally hope our city & suburbs both continue to thrive

[tclifton]

Originally Posted by Merge

I don't really see how that props up the author's rosy prognosis or his conclusion that the suburbs/exurbs are thriving along with the malls.

How about this one from Time Magazine that uses Census data.

Census: Suburbs Grow, City Growth Slows

Or The Brookings Institute

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-a...rowth-gap-frey

[Merge]

Originally Posted by tclifton

How about this one from Time Magazine that uses Census data.

Census: Suburbs Grow, City Growth Slows

Or The Brookings Institute

New Census data: Selective city slowdowns and the city-suburb growth gap | Brookings Institution

Right. I wasn't arguing about the growth of cities and/or suburbs. I was pointing out that the article was poorly sourced and failed to prove its point regarding malls in the suburbs/exurbs. The posts you've linked to above have nothing to do with malls.

And even the links above clearly set out the fact that city growth is still outpacing suburban growth, so I fail to see what point you are trying to make with them.

[gg]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I personally hope our city & suburbs both continue to thrive

I do as well. Goodness, I don't understand this childish city is better or suburb is better crap. Would be great if our region does well all the way out to the furthest of regions. I wish Sharpsburg and Etna would do better. So much potential, but not that much interest.

[Merge]

Just because I'm not impressed by the OP's link doesn't mean I want the suburbs/exurbs to fail. They play a pretty vital role in housing the many who would be miserable neighbors in the city. They keep Pittsburgh from being too congested. I don't believe that growth is necessarily entirely positive, so I have no problem if the "burbanites" stay where they are. I'm glad those people have somewhere they can be happy, even though it's not for me.

[Merge]

Originally Posted by gg

I do as well. Goodness, I don't understand this childish city is better or suburb is better crap. Would be great if our region does well all the way out to the furthest of regions. I wish Sharpsburg and Etna would do better. So much potential, but not that much interest.

I don't think people in Sharpsburg or Etna are complaining that much about the status quo... affordable home prices and rentals, great proximity to all the amenities of the city, good schools (great as far as Sharpsburg is concerned), clean, safe, quiet, and not congested... rich people's homes not too far away to loot and pillage when the riots start...

[Craziaskowboi]

It's ironic that the Pittsburgh area was once "ground zero" for dead malls, but now has five malls that are either thriving or doing solid business.