The Triumph of Suburbia: Despite Downtown Hype, Americans Choose Sprawl (Austin: middle-class, 2013)

[scm53]

Well, this simply will not be permitted. People too stupid to know what they want is bad for them.

Found this part interesting:

While companies in walking distance of big-city reporters make news out of all proportion to their importance, virtually all the major tech concentrations in the country—including Silicon Valley—are suburban. San Jose is a postwar suburban core municipality, having experienced the vast bulk of its growth since 1940. Virtually all the nation’s top tech companies—Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Oracle and even Facebook—are located in suburban settings 45 minutes or more from San Francisco.

And the new rising stars of the tech world—Austin and Raleigh-Cary—are even more dispersed and car-dependent than San Jose.

Conclusion:

So, rather than the “back to the cities” movement that’s been heralded for decades but never arrived, we’ve gone “back to the future,” as people age and arrive in America and opt for updated versions of the same lifestyle that have drawn previous generations to the much detested yet still-thriving peripheries of the metropolis.

[tildahat]

If someone ever posts one of these type of articles NOT by Joel Kotkin, I might actually read it.

[ImOnFiya]

American Baby Boomers and Generation X have largely grown up in suburban sprawl. They know nothing else. You see the posts here all the time for which suburb to move to, not even giving a second thought about settling inside Austin city limits, even though (like most Sunbelt cities) Austin is largely composed with suburban-style neighborhoods (with relative light densities) within its city core.

As Americans, we make general assumptions about what cities and suburbs should be composed of and who inhabits them. In the early 21st Century, Austin (along with Portland, Seattle, Denver, amongst others) who growth has been fueled by the migration of college-educated whites into the city, rather than late 20th Century phenomenon of white flight, ie, the notion of "the white city" was born.

Austin is doing very well: selling a particular "liberal Texas" laid-back lifestyle, with nature, music and food being its ambassador brands. However, one result is the inner city is becoming too expensive for the working-class to live and the middle-class has become squeezed. Another result of the financial squeeze is that certain minority populations are leaving the city altogether [African-Americans], while others kept pace largely in rental communities in east Austin [Hispanics], and cluster in the suburban-style "edge city" in Northwest Austin [Asians]. Leading even casual observers to wonder whether Austin is [Texas] "most segregated city"?

Austin needs viable communities of all income-levels to support our growing populations. It is ironic that some new people don't realize how different and prosperous some Austin neighborhoods have become, though I feel it could be at the expense of the city as a whole.

[ScoPro]

At least we have freedom to choose where we want to live within our means.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

At least we have freedom to choose where we want to live within our means.

Exactly. And if it that is in a suburb, then so be it. Everyone has different lifestyles and wants. I have grown up in a true urban environment that was very dense. People everywhere, buildings everywhere, and lots of asphalt. Most of my life was spent living in super high rise buildings and having to deal with hundreds of thousands of people everyday. Going to work was a trek and very stressful. Sorry, sitting in a car down I-35, while mind-numbing, isn't nearly as bad as being crammed into a subway with no air (things have improved, the air is now running most of the time). I've always wanted to live in a suburban environment and I always wanted to raise my children in a suburban environment.

My personal quality of life in suburbia is second to none, hands down. I really have no use for the city core except for work. Thanks to Metrorail, commuting is no longer a chore. We own a nice home that we can comfortably afford, have nearby shopping (less than 5 minutes), and can watch the sun set from our quiet back porch at night. There's still a hint of rural living that we find very comforting. We'll I'm not asking people to embrace suburbia..hell, I rather wish the tide of people would reverse back to Austin, but please, I wish some people would stop shoving urban-living down my throat and proclaim that's the way to live. That's NOT how I want to live. We all have our reasons for where we choose to live.

[steve78757]

Different strokes for different folks. But Mr. Kotkin's conclusion that people are opting for the burbs based on lifestyle alone is a bit ridiculous. Land values and price per square foot offer another piece of the puzzle.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by steve78757

Different strokes for different folks. But Mr. Kotkin's conclusion that people are opting for the burbs based on lifestyle alone is a bit ridiculous. Land values and price per square foot offer another piece of the puzzle.

Exactly. He makes zero mention of the huge premium that living in the urban centers commands over the suburbs. People are opting to live urban when they can afford it. Unfortunately, rather backwards land use regulations preven significant increases in density to meet the demand - forcing people to move to the suburbs who in many many cases would choose to live centrally if they could afford it.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by riaelise

Exactly. And if it that is in a suburb, then so be it. Everyone has different lifestyles and wants. I have grown up in a true urban environment that was very dense. People everywhere, buildings everywhere, and lots of asphalt. Most of my life was spent living in super high rise buildings and having to deal with hundreds of thousands of people everyday. Going to work was a trek and very stressful. Sorry, sitting in a car down I-35, while mind-numbing, isn't nearly as bad as being crammed into a subway with no air (things have improved, the air is now running most of the time). I've always wanted to live in a suburban environment and I always wanted to raise my children in a suburban environment.

My personal quality of life in suburbia is second to none, hands down. I really have no use for the city core except for work. Thanks to Metrorail, commuting is no longer a chore. We own a nice home that we can comfortably afford, have nearby shopping (less than 5 minutes), and can watch the sun set from our quiet back porch at night. There's still a hint of rural living that we find very comforting. We'll I'm not asking people to embrace suburbia..hell, I rather wish the tide of people would reverse back to Austin, but please, I wish some people would stop shoving urban-living down my throat and proclaim that's the way to live. That's NOT how I want to live. We all have our reasons for where we choose to live.

Thank you for a perspective from someone who has done both and has made the informed choice not to live downtown.

I've lived five minutes from downtown Austin, raised kids, loved it. But I'm absolutely aware that it's not for everybody (thank goodness!) and that suburban and rural lifestyles have a great deal to offer, as well, for those for whom those are better choices. Those who do the above (bolded) remind me of religious fanatics, frankly, who are convinced that they know The One True Way and that everyone else must not only live by their preferences but must Believe.

[Komeht]

The article was filled with all sorts of mid-direction and misinformation. One of my favorites was attacking Jane Jacobs for not studying suburbs when she did not care for them and did not write about then - her passion and the subject of her study was urban cities.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Komeht

People are opting to live urban when they can afford it.

Maybe I am misunderstanding. Are you saying that people are chosing Circle C or Steiner or Lake Travis because they can't afford to live urban?