Suburbs

Bred in Brooklyn, Hipsters Now Colonizing the Suburbs
Facing increasing property prices, Brooklyn's hipsters must decide whether to abandon their lifestyle and recreate it "upstate."

Urban Farming Model Takes Off In Boston Suburb
A suburban farming model based on shared private garden plots springs up in Needham, Massachusetts. Could Kate Canney's experiment be an antidote to the challenge of finding farmland that plagues prospective farmers nationwide?
Successful Strategies for Building Up the Suburbs
A new report from the Urban Land Institute highlights successful strategies for adapting the infrastructure of America's suburbs to accommodate a densification of development.

Should We Let Main Streets Disappear?
Kaid Benfield pens a provocative column in which he suggests that the traditional American Main Street is a thing of the past, and may no longer fit our modern retail economy. Are traditional main streets still worth preserving and emulating?
Are Utopian Visions of Driverless Cars Realistic?
"Autonomous" and "driverless" cars are surely the next frontier for automakers, as recent announcements by Audi, Toyota, and Google indicate. But are visions for the potential impact of these innovations on cities overly optimistic?
Dare to Live Outdoors
The old cool: Sealing yourself inside suburban air conditioning. The new cool? According to Howard Blackson, it's the joy to be found outside, connecting with one another and the world we share.
How Technology Is 'Amplifying the Benefits of Urban Density'
Edward L. Glaeser takes the recent purchase of Zipcar by Avis as the jumping-off point for an essay on the ways that technology, which once aided the sprawling suburban lifestyle, can now amplify the sharing of infrastructure by city dwellers.

As Cities Become Safer, Crime Decamps for the Suburbs
Homicides are decreasing nationwide, but a federal study reveals that the rate has decreased about 17% in cities and increased by the same rate in suburbs. Two WSJ reporters look behind the numbers for the causes with a focus on Atlanta's suburbs.
For the Sake of Santa, Please Don't Build Any More Suburbs
Santa is sounding the alarm: "Christmas is in jeopardy.” What's making St. Nick a little less jolly this year? New analysis shows that suburban development patterns are driving up costs at the North Pole, say Paul Knight and Kevin Clark.
Should Maine Spend More on its Cities?
70 percent of Maine's economic activity and 90 percent of its population growth over the last decade took place in three metro areas. So why is the state "giving money to ‘well-off’ suburbs at expense of urban areas?" Matthew Stone investigates.
Small Cities' Surprising Population Growth
Small and large cities throughout the United States are outgrowing their suburban counterparts for the first time in years. An even bigger surprise: small cities seem to be outpacing suburbs and large metros alike according to new analysis.
Crime: Inner Cities are Beginning to Resemble Suburbs, and Vice Versa
The Economist examines how London's inner city neighborhoods are well past an inflection point in crime rates. In many cases inner city neighborhoods are now safer than suburban neighborhoods and the trend is set to continue.
Suburbs Become the New Cities
Small towns like Carmel, Indiana have gained national prominence after redeveloping into "cities where people can live, work and play," writes Haya El Nassar.
The Planning Debate Referenced in Obama's 'Bombshell' Speech
Conservative news outlets are recirculating a controversial speech made by President Obama in 2007, highlighting his remark that "We don’t need to build more highways out in the suburbs." Brad Plumer looks at the policy implications of his statement.
The Fallacy Behind the Downtown Growth Story
Wendell Cox delves into the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau that have prompted some to herald a return to America's downtowns, and argues that reports of such population growth are vastly overblown.
Data Documents Divine Decade for Downtowns
Nate Berg looks at new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau that puts hard numbers behind what people across the country have observed: America's downtowns are booming again.
With Town Center Projects, Can the Suburbs Challenge Cities Yet Again?
Chasing the widespread interest in city living, developers are exporting mixed-use urbanism to the suburbs and exurbs as "town center" projects, prompting Jonathan O’Connell to ask if "a city can be a city if it’s built in the middle of a cornfield."
Are Cities Becoming as 'Dull' as the Suburbs?
With the world's supposedly fashionable neighborhoods "increasingly as banal, antisocial and plain dull as any suburb," Feargus O'Sullivan explains why he's perfectly happy to have ditched inner London for the burbs.
As Tech Companies Flock to the City, Facebook Doubles Down on the Suburbs
Once seen as the vanguard of hip and cutting-edge, Facebook is either bucking the trend once again or being left behind with their plans to bring the city to its suburban Menlo park campus to lure employees.
Is Obama Out to Abolish the Suburbs?
Stanley Kurtz traces the mechanisms by which he believes President Obama intends to "abolish" the suburbs in a possible second term, and the roots of his desire, stretching back to his training as a community organizer.
Pagination
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