The nation's population trends can give planners insight into the demand for housing in the coming decades.
"Robert Puentes, a fellow at the Brookings Instituion Metropolitan Policy Program, provides a deeper understanding of trends that are impacting metropolitan America and how those trends may impact the demand for multi-family housing in the coming decades. The presentation stresses several key points including dramatic changes in household formation, the plight of older, inner-ring "first" suburbs, and the increasing diversity reflected in both cities and suburban areas."
Among the key points:
"In 2030, about half of the buildings in which Americans live, work, and shop will have been built after 2000."
"Household formation will have profoundly important impacts. Childless married-couple and single-person households will grow rapidly."
"Older, inner-ring "first" suburbs will figure prominently in conversations about metropolitan growth and development."
"The nation will continue to get much more diverse and multi-cultural. Suburbs especially will have to adapt."
"Demographics are not the only determinant of our urban future: economic restructuring, globalization, energy, education, governance."
