Suburban Baby Boomers hoping to age in place are beginning to put new demands on our transportation system, according to a recent New York Times article. Once they can no longer drive, many older folks find themselves needing in-home services or drivers that can offer more assistance than many taxi or TNC drivers are used to providing. If Baby Boomers begin to sell off suburban homes, the real estate market and transportation planners may need to make adjustments.
suburbs
Poverty in the suburbs exacerbated by auto-dependency
A recent article entitled “Driven into Poverty: Walkable urbanism and the suburbanization of poverty,” proposes that, “Due to the scarcity and cost of urban housing, low-income people are being driven away from walkable urbanism and into auto-dependent sub-urbanism”. This follows a report by the Brookings Institution, which found that by 2008, the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country was located in the suburbs.
Exurban development continues to decline, while cities return to pre-recession growth
Growth in urban-fringe suburbs, once the fastest-growing parts of metropolitan areas, has stalled, new Census data shows. Central cities and inner suburbs have long lagged the growth rate of fringe counties, but now they are growing faster.
The allure and price of “greenfield economics”
In a recent series of articles, Aaron Renn provides some fascinating insights into the initial economic advantages of suburban expansion and the long-term costs of such development. Initial economic advantages for new suburbs constructed on …