City or Suburbs? Americans Want It Both Ways
43% of Americans surveyed want to live in Denver. Flickr photo by bridgepix.
The grass really is greener on the other side when it comes to where Americans want to live, according to new research from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project. And urbanites are the least content with their current locale, preferring to move to the suburbs, small towns or rural areas.
“Nearly half (46%) of the [American] public would rather live in a different type of community from the one they’re living in now — a sentiment that is most prevalent among city dwellers,” the study finds.
Source: Pew Research Center
New York Times columnist David Brooks says the research – a survey of 2,260 adults – runs contrary to the “dreams” of many urban planners who believe “that Americans will give up their love affair with suburban sprawl and will rediscover denser, more environmentally friendly, less auto-dependent ways of living.”
In other words, Brooks implies that Americans don’t want to Amsterdamize (or Copenhagenize) into cycle-friendly, transit-oriented, compact cities any time soon. “Amsterdam is a wonderful city, but Americans never seem to want to live there,” he says.
Then again, it depends on who you ask. Age, gender, income class and other demographic factors play a role in “community satisfaction” and the love for cities.
For example:
While most city dwellers say they are not living in their ideal surroundings, one group is right at home in the city: young people. A 57% majority of urbanites under the age of 30 say the city is the perfect place for them, while majorities of every other age group that lives in the city would ideally prefer to live somewhere else.
Also:
Cities are particularly inhospitable homes to middle-income Americans and those on the lower rungs of the income ladder. Six-in-ten city dwellers with household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 say they would rather be living in some other kind of place.
In general, Americans are not united in what they consider the ideal community: 30% say they want to live in a small town, 25% in a suburb, 23% in a city and 21% in a rural area.
Brooks says the most desirable cities in America — Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Orlando and Tampa — are those that offer a little bit of everything: “They are neither traditional urban centers nor atomized suburban sprawl.”
The Pew report emphasizes that most Americans prefer to head out West, inhabiting cities that have “warmer weather, a casual lifestyle and rapid growth.”
So does this report show that most Americans are anti-city? Not necessarily, according to a few Letters to the Editor in response to Brooks’ column.
“More than half of the 10 cities Mr. Brooks names as most popular with Americans and somehow proof of their anti-urban tastes — Denver, San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Orlando, Tampa and San Antonio — are pursuing aggressively pro-urban policies that revolve around building more transit, more bicycle lanes and fewer roads,” says Alex Marshall, author of “How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and the Roads Not Taken.”
Plus, don’t discount “the rise of downtown living,” says says Eugénie L. Birch, co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research. “Philadelphia and Chicago, Lower Manhattan, Los Angeles, Atlanta and yes, even Denver have experienced an influx of residents who have transformed old central business districts and adjacent areas into what is today’s ‘new downtown,’ one that is animated day and night.”
Finally, because Americans have the freedom to choose where the live, it’s no wonder they often opt for the suburbs, which have been built through government subsidies and policies that lower the costs of development, according tp W. Paul Farmer, chief executive
of the American Planning Association.
To read about all the factors involved in American community preferences, download the complete Pew report here.
Source: Pew Research Center
[...] Urban development scholar Joel Kotkin argues that the suburbs and exurbs are legitimately bouncing back. He admits that much of this activity is related to foreclosure sales, but suggests that these sales presage a larger resurgence of the ‘burbs and the “American dream”. Though sub-prime and interest-only loans are no longer available, the lower prices in the suburbs – sometimes as much as 50% below peak – are allowing new buyers into the market. In Kotkin’s mind, this is a positive development, because “the vast majority of Americans…prefer single-family homes” and suburban living environments. (He also argues that the allure of suburbs will only grow as they develop more city-like amenities. Doesn’t that contradict his other assertion, suggesting that Americans prefer something other than a conventional suburban environment? Read more about why Americans want it both ways here.) [...]
[...] to be waning. Many urban cores were coming back to life with startling speed after years of neglect due to various demographic trends. Demand for Smart Growth communities was substantial and increasing. Then with the economic crisis, [...]
For the most part it is good news that people want to live in different environments and there is a need for cities, suburbs and small towns. It is sad, however, that so many people would rather live elsewhere. Clearly this is an issue for disadvantaged people. For others, I wonder if they outgrew where they chose to live or visa versa.
“Brooks says the most desirable cities in America — Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Orlando and Tampa — are those that offer a little bit of everything: ‘They are neither traditional urban centers nor atomized suburban sprawl.’”
Has this guy been to Orlando? It’s a heap on asphalt on a swamp surrounded by gated communities that all look the same. All the transportation infrastructure (mostly highways) there seems too new and too good to be true, and in thirty years as the first major maintenance needs to be done, it will be a major awakening for the city. It’s as if the entire city was built on a fantasy (oh wait…it was).
But Denver…there’s a great city, one that has even tried to collect it’s suburbs through brave transportation choices rather than let them continue to sprawl, a la helpless Detroit.
Thanks for the post! I even commented to Brooks on his FB page, something he very well might not even read (but oh well), that I thought he overlooked the “priced out of paradise” factor–the prohibitive costs of downtown living in many of the US classic big cities.
Susanna,
Thanks for your comments. I’m curious to know what specific commitments Denver has made to “going green.” Were there any sustainability initiatives that immediately jumped to mind? It would be interesting to know to what extent these initiatives make the city more desirable (as opposed to other factors, like cost of living, social demographics, etc.)
Best,
Erica
Thanks for posting the informative PEW trend report. I write about Denver’s sustainability initiatives for the Denver Sustainable City Examiner and am continually impressed and inspired by how committed the community here is to going green. While it might be the singular factor that tips a comprehensive study like this, it is nevertheless encouraging to observe the undisputable connection between commitment to sustainability and desirability, as far as the urban demographics go.