Aug 13, 2020
The Millennial generation may be the most consequential for North American cities since the Baby Boomers 75 years ago. They are certainly the most misunderstood. For more than a decade, their lifestyle preferences have been perceived as contrarian compared to their parents, whether that meant living at home, forgoing a driver’s license, or choosing to…
Aug 13, 2020
Albus Brooks is a former two-term Denver City Council member for District 9 and former City Council President. Today, he is Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Milender White, a Development and Construction company operating in Colorado and Southern California. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. NewCities: On top of…
Jun 05, 2020
A generation ago many British city centres were dreary places. Now, they are among the most desirable areas to live. What has changed? Take a walk through the centres of Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham and you will see smart new apartments, office blocks, and ever-present cranes building still more. Until lockdown, at street-level you would…
Jun 05, 2020
There’s been a profound generational shift in attitudes towards urban living. Today’s young adults are much more likely than those of previous decades to choose to live in denser, close-in urban neighborhoods. We traced this trend in our 2014 City Observatory report, the Young and Restless, which found a growing relative preference of well-educated young…
Jun 05, 2020
Not since the rise of the Driverless Car bubble have I seen so many transport experts staring into their crystal balls, peering through the mists at what the future might hold. As COVID19 changes the way we live, work and learn at a speed and scale unprecedented in living memory, it is no surprise that…
Jun 05, 2020
Alfred Degrafinreid II is the associate vice chancellor for community relations for Vanderbilt University. A native Tennessean, Degrafinreid most recently served as the chief administrative officer for the Office of the Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk. Prior to serving the Metro Nashville government, he was counsel to U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-05) and coordinated community…
Jun 05, 2020
Kourtny Garrett serves as President & CEO of Downtown Dallas, Inc. and has been dedicated to the revitalization of Downtown Dallas in various roles since 2002. With a resume spanning 15 years in the development of livable communities, her passion for strong and kinetic city centers carries from Dallas to abroad. Her primary focus of…
Jun 05, 2020
Millennials, members of the diverse generation currently making up nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, are reshaping American society and, with it, commercial real estate. The generation is delaying many of the traditional life stages of young adulthood that were commonplace for baby boomers, including marriage in your twenties and the subsequent purchase of…
Jun 05, 2020
More than 9/11 or the Great Recession, COVID-19 and the associated economic downturn will shape Millennial preferences for years to come. Their intensive use of virtual media necessitated by the health risks may become more ingrained. The counter narrative is that the social distancing imposed by the pandemic will increase their desire for face-to-face communication…
Jun 05, 2020
Large cities of North America have followed a rollercoaster of growth and prosperity for more than 100 years. Decline of their urban cores after 1950 seemed to go hand-in-hand with the rise of the suburbs, but all that reversed—an inversion–with the new millennium. Now economic growth, rising rents and young adults were shifting toward the…
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…
