What will be the Future of Cities?

The Future of Cities

Whatever the future holds for humanity, it is likely to take place in an urban context. Yet, there are many, and sometimes divergent, urban futures. This book is being published as a series, with permission of the American Enterprise Institute. Please return weekly to read each chapter as it is published.

2020 Standard of Living Index

Urban Reform Institute has developed the Standard of Living Index to facilitate comparisons between metropolitan areas. The Index combines a cost of living index with median household incomes in the 107 metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 residents.
Sawmills in Shelton, WashingtonPublic Domain

Domestic Migration to Dispersion Accelerates (Even Before COVID)

by Wendell Cox — In what could turn out to be a “dry run” for the post-COVID19 era, net domestic migration has strongly shifted away from the larger metropolitan areas, to smaller areas.
COVID-19 Map of USA

One Nation, Under Lockdown, Divided by Pandemic

by Joel Kotkin — The last thing this divided Republic needs is more polarization, but America is now further divided by pandemic, in large part by the different experiences of various localities and in how economies function from region to region.
Macy's display window, from 1933

Letter from Los Angeles: The Death of Small Business is a Tragedy for Jewish Community and Democracy

by Joel Kotkin — A great connoisseur as well as sworn enemy of the free market, Vladimir Lenin might smile a bit if he witnessed what is now happening to small businesses in the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Americans Not Deeply DividedMike Scheid

Americans Are Not As Divided About the Pandemic As It May Seem

by Samuel J. Abrams — Data from the Pew Research Center collected during the epidemic reveals that Americans are indeed polarized around Trump and his behavior but are not deeply divided when it comes to real, concrete safety measures to mitigate the virus and protect Americans.
The "Darth Vader" house in West University

Our Double Black Swan, Density vs. Pandemic, and More

Houston has been reeling from oil-market chaos and a coronavirus shutdown. Houston CFO Chris Brown has taken to calling the city's situation a “double black swan.”
Urban high rise housing in Singapore

A Look At Demographia’s Latest Housing Affordability Survey

by Prakash Loungani — In this interview, Wendell Cox talks about Demographia’s latest housing affordability survey. Wendell Cox is an American urban policy analyst and academic. He is the principal of Demographia (Wendell Cox Consultancy). The survey is co-authored with Hugh Pavletich of Performance Urban Planning.
Farm workers are shown harvesting crops

Who Will Prosper After the Plague?

by Joel Kotkin — Who will prosper after the plague? By disrupting smaller grassroots businesses while expanding the power of technologies used in enforcement, coronavirus could further empower both tech oligarchs and the “expert” class.
New Jersey suburbs of NYC

“Exposure Density” and the Pandemic

by Wendell Cox — My article last week, Early Observations on the Pandemic and Population Density, suggested that the risk of infection is a function of being close to people who are infected. The most fundamental issue is thus, how close people are to one-another in their daily lives.
Closed shops

Working-Class People Hold Society Together: Class and COVID-19

by Sarah Attfield — Working-class people are more likely to suffer as a result of both the coronavirus and the measures put in place to contain its spread.