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America’s Shrinking Cities Are Gaining Brains
If there’s one thing that’s a nearly universal anxiety among cities, it’s brain drain, or the loss of educated residents to other places. I’ve written about this many times over the years, critiquing...
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As Rivals Stumble, America Steps Up
As its former rivals in Asia and Europe slip into torpor and even decline, America, almost despite itself, is recovering its perch as the world’s bastion and predominant power. This is all the more...
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Traffic Congestion: The Latest Urban Mobility Report Ratings
In recent years there has been a proliferation of traffic congestion rating reports. Tom Tom and Inrix are now making it possible to compare traffic congestion in Louisville or even Lexington to Moscow...
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The Comeback Of The Great Lakes States
For generations the broad swath of America along the Great Lakes has been regarded as something of a backwater. Educated workers and sophisticated industries have tended to gather in the Northeast and...
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Family Friendly Cities
One of the common criticisms leveled at people who promote urban living goes something like this. “Cities are great for college kids, people starting off in their careers, bohemians, and maybe some...
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Neither Olympics Nor NFL Will Rescue Los Angeles
We all tend to have fond memories of our greatest moments, and for Los Angeles, the 1984 Olympics has served as a high point in the city’s ascendency. The fact that those Summer Games were brilliantly...
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Peak People in Japan
Japan reached "peak people" in 2011, when its population reached 127.4 million residents. From that point, all trends point to significant population losses. But, there is by no means unanimity on the...
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Is Owning A Car Too Expensive?
Many analysts—usually planners—have been regularly offering a wealth of exhortations concerning how uneconomical it is to purchase, operate and maintain a private car. Is this a valid assertion of a...
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Behind the Facade in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Peter the Great’s new European style capital for imperial Russia, is the most visited city for tourists in Russia. It has a ton of great buildings, energetic street life in its smallish...
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Wave of Migrants Will Give Europe an Extreme Makeover
The massive, ongoing surge of migrants and refugees into Europe has brought up horrendous scenes of deprivation, along with heartwarming instances of generosity. It has also engendered cruel...
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Gas Tax Still a Tax
Governor Jerry Brown recently released a plan to find funds to fix California’s roads. Infrastructure funding is one of the essential roles of government, so it’s refreshing to hear that our otherwise...
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Black Exodus: African-American Children to the Suburbs
One of the most significant results of the 2010 census was the continuing shift of the African-American population from the core cities to the suburbs of major metropolitan areas (Note). In 2010, 55...
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Are-You-Better-Off: An Update
Going into the silly-season of US Presidential campaigning, I want to get a head start on updating the “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” discussion. In an April 2009 ng article,...
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Low Hanging Fruit
As a San Franciscan I get a lot of raised eyebrows when I mention that I recently bought property in Cincinnati. “Huh?” Then I walk them through it. Here’s the mom and pop business district along...
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Becoming America the Not-So-Beautiful
“They don’t know history, but they are making it. But what are they making?”– Victor Serge, “The Conquered City,” 1932In contrast to the physical sciences, and even other social sciences, the study of...
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500 Years of GDP: A Tale of Two Countries
Last year (2014), China overtook the United States in gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power (GDP-PPP, see point 4 for explanation), according to both the International Monetary Fund...
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Race, Ancestry, and Genetic Composition of the U.S.
Race and ancestry, or countries/peoples of origin, are popular topics, with large amounts of data attempting to help us understand the ethnic nature of the country. In this paper I attempt a summary...
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China Catches Cold: What That Means For The Rest Of Us
For the last century, one enduring cliché has been that when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. But now the big power with the sniffles is China.China’s rise has been the most profound...
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Recent Growth and Decline of Children in Major Metropolitan Areas
That America has an aging population is well known. Estimates data released this summer by the Census Bureau illustrate this transition in progress – and paint a picture of an actual shrinking number...
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China’s Planned City Bubble Is About to Pop—and Even You’ll Feel It
Seven years after the last housing debacle devastated the world economy, we may be on the verge of another, albeit different, bubble. If the last real estate collapse was created due to insanely easy...
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