An article on the Metro Trends Blog finds that data do not support the common narrative that young people are moving to cities in huge numbers. Most cities, according to the study, lost more adults aged 20-35 than they gained between 2000 and 2012.
*Updated: April 17, 2014. The authors of the original article have since printed corrections: "We've posted amended text, charts, and conclusions..." Click through to see the changes they made.
“Despite the damage wrought by the mortgage crisis of 2008 and the ensuing Great Recession, the general narrative has been that an increasing number of young, educated, and (largely) white people are moving back into urban neighborhoods, bringing their tastes, lifestyles, and salaries along with them,” write Eric Burnstein and Megan Gallagher.
“But is this narrative driven by a handful of hipsters in Brooklyn and San Francisco or by urban revitalization trends in multiple places?”
To answer the question, Burnstein and Gallagher examined demographic change for 10 mid- to large-sized cities in 2000 and 2012. Of the cities they examined, only Charlotte, North Carolina (6.65 percent) and Washington D.C. (2.77 percent) saw more adults between the ages of 20 and 35 move to town than moved away.
Burnstein and Gallagher did, however, find increasing numbers of college-educated people in all of the examined cities. Also, half the cities—Charlotte, Austin, Portland, Denver, and Columbus—increased in numbers of families with children under the age of 18.
“We know that revitalization is happening in the neighborhoods of many American cities,” write Burnstein and Gallagher to conclude, “But what the numbers here tell us is that gentrification is not the only change these cities are seeing, and in many cases, may not be the dominant trend, even in healthy cities.”
FULL STORY: The revitalization of American central cities: fact or fiction?
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.