Entries by Mike New

AMERICA’S NEWEST HIPSTER HOT SPOT: THE SUBURBS?

by Joel Kotkin 10/09/2014… It’s an idea echoed everywhere from “Friends” to “Girls”: Young people want to live in cities. And, we’re told, a lot of them (at least the cool ones) do. It’s a common assumption. But it’s also wrong. Between 2010 and 2013, the number of 20- to 29-year-olds in America grew by 4 percent. But the number […]

DON’T BOOST CITIES BY BASHING THE ‘BURBS

by Joel Kotkin There is nothing like a trip to Washington, D.C., to show how out of touch America’s ruling classes have become. I was in the nation’s capital to appear on a panel for a Politico event that – well after I agreed to come – was titled “Booming Cities, Busting Suburbs.” The notion of […]

RALEIGH: SUBURBANIZING THE CITY AND SUBURBS

by Wendell Cox 03/02/2011… New 2010 Census results indicate that the Raleigh metropolitan area (Raleigh-Cary) grew 42 percent from 2000 to 2010. This growth rate is projected to be the highest of any metropolitan area in the nation for the 2000 to 2010 period. The historical core municipality of Raleigh grew strongly, from 288,000 to 404,000, a […]

SEVEN YEARS AGO, WALL STREET WAS THE VILLAIN. NOW IT GETS TO CALL THE SHOTS

by Joel Kotkin The recent passage by Congress of new legislation favourable to loosening controls on risky Wall Street trading is just the most recent example of the consolidation of plutocratic power in Washington. The new rules, written largely by Citibank lobbyists and embraced by the Obama administration, allow large banks to continue using depositors’ money for high-risk […]

MEASURING ECONOMIC GROWTH, BY DEGREES

By Joel Kotkin In this information age, brains are supposed to be the most valued economic currency. For California, where the regulatory environment is more difficult for companies and people who make things, this is even more the case. Generally speaking, those areas that have the heaviest concentration of educated people generally do better than those […]

America’s Opportunity City

Lots of new jobs and a low cost of living make Houston a middle-class magnet. By JOEL KOTKIN AND TORY GATTIS Houston is growing downtown as well as on its suburban periphery. David Wolff and David Hightower are driving down the partially completed Grand Parkway around Houston. The vast road, when completed, will add a […]