I've been reading what has been written here in this blog, about the big metros and gateway city's appreciation in the America over the last few years. But not only is this happening in the USA but worldwide. London, Moscow, Paris all have seen tremendous demand pushing up prices. It seems illogical given the ubiquitous nature of the internet, out sourcing, work from home programs etc. Who wouldn't rather telecommute from a fair weathered tropical Island somewhere devoid of smog, traffic and the stress of a big metro. Yet it seems big metros are in big demand.
Why? Is my question to you and this board? Want to put forward a theory? Is it really grey market money flooding in, or the young generations change of taste, preferring metros and public transport to self drive? Or perhaps that's where the jobs are? Each one of these reasons has been put forward as a reason for certain big Cities but none of them could explain such a broad worldwide phenomena IMHO? Ideas?
I am not John but I will give you my view. I think Americans have had a negative perception of cities since the time of Jefferson. Jefferson and his cohort were forever extolling the virtues of the countryside and the badness of cities. Most American cities, unlike European cities, developed during the industrial revolution........that meant lots of smoke and soot. There are photos of Pittsburgh where the street lamps would go on at noon because the sky was so dark from soot. And finally after WW II, there was a heavy migration of southern blacks to cities which caused whites a lot of angst and more dislike for cities.
To make American cities even uglier, mayors back then decided to bring the interstate system into their cities as a form of Negro removal. Little known fact.........President Eisenhower never intended for the interstate freeways to go into the cities............they were meant to be intra-urban, meaning a way to travel between cities, and not as a way for suburbanites to commute within metro areas. But mayors back then insisted and the freeways with all their noise and air pollution were brought right into the cities, dividing and destroying neighborhoods all along their right of way, and making American cities look even more dissipated. The smarter cities........the ones that are better looking in this country.........kept the freeway bldg to a minimum.
So by the time baby boomers came of age Americans pretty much had developed a strong hatred for their cities. The baby boomers, many of whom had traveled to Europe and Asia, began to develop a different view of cities. Slowly but surely over the last 5-6 decades the American view on cities has begun to change, The better looking, more dynamic cities began growing again in the 1990s after decades of decline. In the aught years, more cities joined this select group. The millennials particularly have an affinity for cities and are moving into them in droves. To give you an idea of their city love, of 16K apt units currently under construction in the Seattle metro area, 60% are getting built within the city of Seattle..........and occupancy continues to hover in the high 90s. For the first time in decades, Seattle and a number of other cities are growing faster than their suburbs.
In this growing love for cities, Americans are joining the rest of the world in its perception of world cities, many of which developed AFTER the industrial revolution. Cities are seen as places of hope.....for jobs, for a good life, for excitement and entertainment. There is a saying about London............when a man tires of London, he tires of life. That's not to say that cities are replicas of paradise...........far from it. However, they are definitely an important ingredient in the development of human civilization and its growth.They embody technological changes with all its good and bad. Most people gain comfort from knowing there are others nearby. By congregating in cities, humans gain certain efficiencies. I think cities are here to stay for at least the foreseeable future. |
