IS THE URBAN REVIVAL FOR REAL?

IS THE URBAN REVIVAL FOR REAL?


With micropolitans now being officially recognized by the federal government and some of them gaining population at remarkable rates, it might lead one to ask if the urban revival phenomenon is for real. Are people really returning to the cities?

According to Robert Lang -- a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who also was the director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech as well as an associate professor in Urban Affairs and Planning. director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech -- the revival “was much more real in the 1990s than it is now.”

“The 1990s were the best decade for American cities since the 1940s. The 1970s were the worst. (The numbers) will never look as good as the ‘90s,” he said.

Even so, Lang questions how census statistics are interpreted. He posits the possibility of undercounting, that the government should be looking at household occupancy rather than sheer numbers.

“Cities have been losing families and gaining educated singles. Cities are getting richer. The trend in the hot coastal cities and hot Midwestern cities is that the cities are losing the poor and gaining the rich,” Lang said.

Carol Coletta, host and producer of the nationally-syndicated public radio show Smart City and president of CEOs for Cities, agrees.

“Visit the center of most any big city in America, and you’ll find new residential construction underway. Much of this development would have been unimaginable just a dozen years ago. In fact, throughout the 1990s, the Census Bureau continued to insist that cities were in decline. But the presence of construction cranes told a different story. So did the 2000 Census. People were moving back into city centers for the first time in decades, and that trend has only accelerated in the first half of this decade,” said Coletta.

Coletta believes that “who” is more important than “how many.”

“The success of cities is no longer tied to population growth. Instead, the education level of its citizens is now the single largest driver of economic growth. As America’s college-educated 25 to 34 year-olds snap up new urban condos and rediscover the appeal of city living, they are becoming the new ‘competitive advantage’ for cities,” she said.

Another trend is that of empty-nester Baby Boomers downsizing and returning to the cities where they can enjoy cultural and other opportunities unavailable elsewhere.

Coletta believes that both trends show no signs of slowing.

“Talented people tend to attract other talented people. So once development achieves critical mass, the trend becomes self-reinforcing,” said Coletta.

“’Is the urban revival for real?’ Absolutely. The only question that matters for any city is ‘How do we get our share of the talented people who are driving this urban revival?’”