America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
theatlantic.com
America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
1–10 of 443 posts
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#2Further good reading on this subject: Empty Planet https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545397/empty-planet...
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#3[deleted]
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#4>There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard.
Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there.
I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/rent wise.
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#5> There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard. Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there. I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/ren…
That'll do it though.
It used to be that the cities had lots of single-income families. They only had to compete with each other in the bidding war for good housing.
Women entered the job market due to birth control and legal changes, so now we have lots of two-income households in that bidding war. Same-sex couples also became legal, adding even more two-income households.
Meanwhile, low-cost forms of housing were legislated away. You can rent an apartment or be homeless, but you can't rent an SRO (single-room occupancy) or bed cage. The homeless scare away families, and the lack of SRO options forces single people into the bidding war for larger housing.
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#6> There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard. Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there. I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/ren…
Nobody wants to "try harder" and be similarly poor
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#7> There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard. Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there. I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/ren…
That'll do it though. It used to be that the cities had lots of single-income families. They only had to compete with each other in the bidding war for good housing. Women entered the job market due to birth control and legal changes, so now we have lots of two-income households in that bidding war. Same-sex couples also became legal, adding even more two-income households. Meanwhile, low-cost forms of housing were l…
>The homeless scare away families
This applies to a narrow subset of urban locations
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#8> There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard. Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there. I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/ren…
Nobody wants to "try harder" and be similarly poor
Six kids and two parents surviving on one regular income could buy a 3 bedroom house in the past. Not great living conditions for those 8 people, but housing did not used to be such an expensive proposition to buy or rent.
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#9> There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard. Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there. I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/ren…
That'll do it though. It used to be that the cities had lots of single-income families. They only had to compete with each other in the bidding war for good housing. Women entered the job market due to birth control and legal changes, so now we have lots of two-income households in that bidding war. Same-sex couples also became legal, adding even more two-income households. Meanwhile, low-cost forms of housing were l…
> "Women entered the job market due to birth control and legal changes..."
the argument that dual-income households becoming necessities for home ownership and raising a family is plausible, if unsupported.
but the quoted causal relationship above is not even plausible, let alone supported. women entered the job market because they wanted to realize their ambitions and support their families, just like men. other societal changes may have aided or hindered that ambition to various effect, but they don't form the driving force as you state.
Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
#10> There are many reasons New York might be shrinking, but most of them come down to the same unavoidable fact: Raising a family in the city is just too hard. Harder than in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, up to 80s? Millions of dirt poor immigrants raised children in the city just fine, and tons of working and middle class people were born and raised there. I seriously doubt it's "too hard" in any other sense, except job/ren…
That'll do it though. It used to be that the cities had lots of single-income families. They only had to compete with each other in the bidding war for good housing. Women entered the job market due to birth control and legal changes, so now we have lots of two-income households in that bidding war. Same-sex couples also became legal, adding even more two-income households. Meanwhile, low-cost forms of housing were l…
I don't understand why this is getting downvoted. IIRC it's the entire data-backed thesis of Elizabeth Warren's 2003 book the Two-Income Trap.
CityLab recently documented the rise and fall of the SRO:
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-...