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I've heard that lots of people are moving back into the city. The urban way of living is becoming popular again. Ok... I need some proof. A city growing by 4-10% doesn't mean people are moving into the city, and living urban. Any cold hard facts that support these statements? (Something like house and apartment vacancy has gone down by 20% in urban areas). Is there any solid evidence? Or does everyone just assume because public transportation is expanding, pedestrians have increased, and college grads live downtown. To me, those things don't mean people are going urban.
I zoomed into Cleveland and Chicago. Despite the fact that these cities lost total population, you can clearly see from this map that the core areas--the most urban areas--are growing at a brisk pace.
I zoomed into Cleveland and Chicago. Despite the fact that these cities lost total population, you can clearly see from this map that the core areas--the most urban areas--are growing at a brisk pace.
How does that prove that people are migrating from the outlying suburban areas back to the 'city'? Migration from outside the region (out of state or country) and births could cause what you are observing.
How does that prove that people are migrating from the outlying suburban areas back to the 'city'? Migration from outside the region (out of state or country) and births could cause what you are observing.
It doesn't, and I don't think that's what the OP asked for. Population increases in the urban core does indicate--to me--that "the urban way of living is becoming popular again."
How does that prove that people are migrating from the outlying suburban areas back to the 'city'? Migration from outside the region (out of state or country) and births could cause what you are observing.
It sounds like you're seeking data for two things: (1) that population density is increasing in urban areas due to an influx of ex-suburbanites and (2) that populations are decreasing in the suburbs. As you can see in that article above, it's tricky to analyze what's been happening in the past few years, mostly due to the housing bubble bursting, as well as the recession.
There are also articles you can find by Googling that describe a recent trend of black families moving to the suburbs from urban areas. This is most likely due to the rise in housing costs in the city -- gentrification.
I don't think those claiming that cities are regaining population are also stipulating that suburbs are losing population. I don't think they are arguing that cities are gaining population faster than suburbs. I think they are only arguing that after a 50 year decline, from roughly 1950-2000, city center populations are rising. That in itself is a major turning point.
The other issue, is that with the aging of the population, there are a lot more adult, childless, singles and couples. Many of these couples are in roommate situations, which require more space than a traditional family. Families are far more willing to share bathrooms, and in the cases of children, bedrooms, than roommates are. Therefore, a lot of that older, center city housing stock will never house as many people as it did when it was occupied by families. A lot of it will require a tremendous amount of remodeling and redevelopment to accommodate these new living situations, but still a turn around is happening in some of our city centers.
In raw numbers, more people than ever moved to the suburbs. Some metro areas saw declines in older suburbs and growth in the exurbs. Urbanized areas (that is Downtowns and suburbs) have seen growth because those areas are where the jobs are. There just isn't much to do career-wise in a place like Porterville, CA unless you want to work in a small city government position, teach at the local high school, or run a small-town Napa Auto Parts store.
You can't simply state people are running to live in the city center because you see a population decline in some of the suburban neighborhoods. The neighborhoods built in the 50s and 60s may have a lot of senior citizens that have lost their spouses over the last ten years and are living alone. The ones built in the 70s and 80s probably have a lot of people who have had children grow and move out to the newer suburbs or possibly downtown. In some areas Sec 8 vouchers have allowed the worst element of society to move to some of the less-expensive suburbs, causing a lot of people to flee. Getting a good census count is difficult in those neighborhoods.
We also went through close to 20 years of insane economic growth based on credit and excess government spending which allowed people to buy homes in the suburbs and rent lofts downtown that wouldn't have been built if developers didn't receive redevelopment subsidies.
Remember too the census is what almost or is at 2 years old now
The figures were taking during a foreclosure nightmare which is still on going
even when the data was released it was old data
it would really be interesting to see what these figures are now
where did the people go who lost their homes , more than likely back to urban areas where there are plenty of apts- who knows -my prediction still stands people going back to the cities due to housing, fuel costs -even businesses are starting to relocate to core downtown areas
It doesn't, and I don't think that's what the OP asked for. Population increases in the urban core does indicate--to me--that "the urban way of living is becoming popular again."
Arguably it has always been popular. That is one of the reasons it is expensive to live there.
All of the NYC suburbs have been showing health gains for quite some time especially north of the city into the Hudson Valley. So many people from NYC have moved away and went to the suburbs of the city because of the horrible traffic, poor schools, way too congested, way too expensive, no place to park the car etc.
Do you know who's moving to NYC now? Minus those hipster neighborhoods where everyone is renting and living with who knows how many roommates. It's the very rich, Russian Jews, and Asians are the ones who are buying the homes now.
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