Jun 05, 2020
Cars, not people—that’s what defined downtown Phoenix and Houston at the close of the 20th century. In 1999, downtown Phoenix and Houston had nine and six parking spaces for every ten jobs respectively, according to a UCLA study. The footprint of these downtowns radically changed as Millennials– a generation that expresses a strong desire to…
Jun 05, 2020
In 2000, the leading edge of the Millennial generation was still in high school, the youngest in diapers. In 2020, Millennials comprise a big chunk of the American workforce, and are reflective of profoundly diversified suburban demographics. Over these twenty years, I’ve been researching and writing about why it’s high time to “retrofit” the suburbanized…
Jun 05, 2020
The Millennial Family 82% of babies born today are children of Millennials, but you probably wouldn’t think that if you lived in New York City. Millennials who forgo the suburbs and stay in the city are delaying having children, or having fewer children, due to mounting student debt and the general unaffordability of raising a…
Jun 05, 2020
Millennials have grown up. Many people retain a misperception around this demographic’s current age, but the reality is that they are now in their mid-to-late 30s and are settling into their adult lives. As they start to have children and pursue homeownership, millennials are now increasingly turning to suburban locales that offer more space and…
Jun 05, 2020
As the Millennial generation comes of age, their preferences, which tend to diverge from those of their baby boomer parents, present cities with an opportunity to fundamentally rethink urban and suburban life. In this edition of the Big Picture, we will explore how policymakers, developers, and more are placing bets and working feverishly to retain…
May 06, 2020
May 04, 2020
Lessons For Greenfield MegaprojectsMay 26, 2020 | 9am PDT | 12pm EDT Having seen COVID-19 disrupt the very functioning of cities worldwide, what would we do differently if we built a new city from scratch? While many of us are grappling with how to transform age-old systems to better serve citizens in the wake of…
May 01, 2020
Decarbonizing the Hard WayMay 19 | 9am PDT | 12pm EDT Ready for an inconvenient truth? Images of clear waterways and clean skies provide a devastating glimpse into the extent to which business-as-usual human activity impacts the planet, but they don’t depict an effective response to climate change. Climate action at the order of magnitude…
May 01, 2020
The How, What, and Where of WorkMay 12 | 9am PDT | 12pm EDT In the context of COVID-19, the term ‘essential’ has gone beyond defining indispensable activities and labor during a time of crisis and entered the realm of Orwellian doublespeak. The pandemic has only accelerated a much larger conversation being led by market…
Apr 28, 2020
The Wellbeing ImperativeApril 28, 2020 | 9am PDT | 12pm EDT As the world’s urban population continues to grow, global health is becoming increasingly synonymous with urban health. The spread of COVID-19 has revealed the extent to which cities impact what we understand about disease: population density and a world of places connected by business…
Apr 27, 2020
Beyond Megacities: Rethinking DensityMay 5 | 9am PDT | 12pm EDT Location, location, location. Repeat twice daily to justify some of the most troubling trends in modern urban development. We use location – and the idea that there’s a scarcity of lively, walkable, employment-rich city centers – to champion density as simply good urbanism, while…
Apr 24, 2020
