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.
Increased dispersion as people move from densely populated urban cores, to smaller communitiesWendell Cox, used with permission

Census 2021 Estimates: Increased Dispersion

by Wendell Cox — Increased dispersion began before COVID, but accelerated in 2021 with what the Census Bureau characterized as “a shift from larger, more populous counties to medium and smaller ones.”
Welcome to Texas road sign

Texans don’t leave, checklist for opportunity cities, exurbia rising

by Tory Gattis — Lessons from history and from the success stories of the present point to clear priorities for cities to become today’s opportunity cities.
Report on Issues relating to the potential incorporation of The Woodlands Township

URI Report: Issues Relating to the Potential Municipal Incorporation of The Woodlands Township

Urban Reform Institute releases new report on Issues Relating to the Potential Municipal Incorporation of The Woodlands Township.
Ownership and Opportunity: New Report from Urban Reform Institute

Ownership and Opportunity: A New Report from Urban Reform Institute

Ownership and Opportunity, a new report from Urban Reform Institute, explores the connection between homeownership and opportunity for upward mobility.
urban homelessness

The Limits of Rhetoric

Charles Blain and Joel Kotkin — If rhetoric were magic, metro areas like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago would be ideal for aspirational minority residents.
suburban housing growth

Why the 2020 Election Will Be Decided in Suburbia

by Joel Kotkin — American politics is increasingly about dueling geographies. Today's Democrats base is mostly urban, while the Republican base is rural and exurban—but suburbia will decide the 2020 election.
Making Sense of Urban Density, Death Rates & Dispersion

Making Sense of Urban Density, Death Rates & Dispersion with Wendell Cox

In this episode of the Feudal Future podcast, urban policy expert and noted demographer Wendell Cox joins hosts Joel and Marshall for a conversation on the COVID-19 pandemic, death rates, and public policy.
Combined Statistical Areas of the US and Puerto Rico

Combined Statistical Areas: Ready for the Dispersion Demand

by Wendell Cox — The years to come seem likely to see America’s historic population dispersion continue or accelerate, as pandemic and lockdown worries have severely reduced the attractiveness of dense urban cores.

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.