A quick look at the Seattle metro area shows the term may be obsolete.
"In the 1980s, a concept called "jobs-housing balance" arose in urban-planning circles.
If government policies promoted building new houses, condos and apartments close to offices, stores and factories, the thinking went, people would commute shorter distances and be more likely to walk, bike or take the bus to work.
But do residents reside need their workplaces?"
"Only about 40 percent of the workers who live in Redmond â€" a city where jobs greatly outnumber residents â€" also work there, according to the Census Bureau. For Tukwila, another regional job magnet, that figure is even smaller: just 17 percent.
About three-quarters of the residents of Issaquah, Renton and Kent who work, earn their living in another town."
The census estimates for places like Redmond and Issaquah suggest "there are limits to that notion (of jobs-housing balance), and they should be recognized," says Dan Carlson, a senior lecturer at the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs who studies transportation and land use.
Read the full story: Despite planners' best efforts, many people choose the commute
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Voters choose public transit, approve $31 billion in funding
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
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