An international survey from IKEA finds fewer Americans feel at home in the place where they live.
About 22,000 people from all over the world took an Ikea survey about how they feel at home, and the results were often discouraging. Americans, for example, feel less comfortable at home than they did in years past. "In other words, 35% of people who live in cities don’t feel at home in their house or apartment," Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan writes for Fast Company. Campbell-Dollaghan speculates that this may be because Americans are more likely to be renters than they were in years past, and more likely to move more often.
The lack of comfort in one’s home is also changing people's relationships with their cars. "One person in Rome reported going out to sit in their car on the street to find a fleeting moment of 'mental privacy.' They weren’t alone: 'Almost half of Americans (45%) go to their car, outside of the home, to have a private moment to themselves,'" Campbell Dllaghan reports.
FULL STORY: A new Ikea report is an unsettling look at life in the 21st century
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
How Urban Form Impacts Housing Affordability
The way we design cities affects housing costs differently than you might think.
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