The current leaders and planners of Los Angeles have a dense Utopian dream, where we all live in high rises and take mass transportation everywhere.
The fact of the matter is that most people don't want to live that way and want a nice house with a yard.
Joel Kotkin and Alan M. Berger have a book called Infinite Suburbia, and great new piece called "The Urban Revival Is an Urban Myth, and the Suburbs Are Surging."
The book and the article explain that, much to the disdain of politicians and planners, most people currently live and work in suburbans areas.
Here's an excerpt from the piece:
"Three key groups—seniors, minorities, and millennials—all prefer the suburbs.
More than 10,000 boomers turn 65 each day; between 2015 and 2025, the number of senior households, according to the Joint Center on Housing Studies at Harvard University, will grow by 10.7 million. By 2050, the over-65 population will have doubled to 80 million.
Despite much talk about seniors moving “back to the city,” the Census numbers suggest the opposite. Since 2010, the senior population in core cities has gone up by 621,000—compared to 2.6 million in the suburbs. The share of seniors in both the inner core and older suburbs (those built before 1980) dropped between 2000 and 2010, while it’s grown substantially in newer suburbs and exurbs. A recent survey by Pulte Homes found that most boomers are seeking places near nature and with large garages; not exactly what you are likely to find, much less afford, in San Francisco. The “back to the city” phenomena, like many urban trends, is largely restricted to the wealthy..."
Click here to read the full article at the Daily Beast, and click here to check out the new book Infinite Suburbia.