April 15, 2005
DEURBAN RENEWAL:
Metro areas see growth at edges: Census figures signal ‘decade of the exurbs' (Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg, 4/15/05, USA TODAY)
Americans' quest for more space at a price they can afford is fueling a population boom in counties on the farthest edges of metropolitan areas, according to Census estimates released Thursday.Several of the counties that grew the fastest from 2000 to 2004 are distant suburbs of major cities, from No. 1 Loudoun County in Virginia, 35 miles west of Washington, to No. 6 Henry County, Ga., about 30 miles south of Atlanta.
“This is the decade of the exurbs,” says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. “You see the importance of way-out counties in places like Atlanta, Dallas and Denver and even in Minnesota.”
This spreading out is happening after a decade when the USA grew faster than at any time since the 1960s, spurring demand for millions of new housing units. Despite efforts to contain suburban sprawl and encourage denser development, many Americans are willing to endure longer commutes to achieve their dream of owning a single-family home with a big yard.
In the not too distant future cities will be nothing more than combination office parks, theme parks and transit hubs. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 15, 2005 7:09 AM
Ah, the elephant in the living room. People move out to get away from people who can't afford to move out.
Posted by: Lou Gots at April 15, 2005 10:20 AMMore like people moving out to get away from people who are paid to live in subsidized, disfunctional squalor.
Posted by: Pat H at April 15, 2005 10:52 AMMy law firm has a 10-year lease on office space in a high-rise building downtown. When we were considering renewing three years ago, there was a strong move among the younger partners to get cheaper office space in a significantly more pleasant location in the suburbs, away from the crime, the traffic, the city wage tax, etc. The old guard wouldn't hear of leaving the city, but I won't be surprised if we move out in another seven years.
Posted by: Random Lawyer at April 15, 2005 11:35 AMRandom: Nothing you're going to do until retirement is going to make the practice of law any more pleasant.
Posted by: David Cohen at April 15, 2005 11:54 AMThe growth of exurbs makes OJ's yammering about public transport even more embarassing. If people in NYC start working in even larger numbers in Stamford, Roseland, Carle Place and Princeton, how is any bus or train system going to ferry people about?
Posted by: bart at April 16, 2005 9:20 AMThey don't work there, just live there.
Posted by: oj at April 16, 2005 5:29 PMI live thirty miles from downtown Manhattan and I'm in an inner suburb.
Posted by: Joseph Hertzlinger at April 17, 2005 12:32 AMoj,
You don't know what you're talking about. Roseland has more office space than Newark. Carle Place has a bunch of corporate HQs as does Stamford. The Princeton corridor is second only to Silicon Valley in R & D jobs.
If your lab is in Plainsboro and your attorneys are in Roseland and the Federal District court you deal with is in Trenton, getting around by public transport would be impossible. And there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people like that.
Posted by: at April 17, 2005 9:14 AMExcellent. Then folks won't need to drive so much after all.
Posted by: oj at April 17, 2005 9:54 AMMaybe each person, who drives, drives less, but more people have to drive to begin with. You can't live in Plainsboro or Morristown without a car.
Posted by: bart at April 17, 2005 2:56 PMYou can walk.
Posted by: oj at April 17, 2005 3:00 PM