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Diversity

Variation in City Size

Although larger cities tend to produce greater wealth, an economy needs cities of the full range of sizes, from rural areas to megacities. Good urban design should be relevant to cities at all scales.

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Source: UN 1. An economy requires many industries, such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, knowledge work, and more, each of which has different needs for space and for proximity to other people and firms 2. Additionally, the needs and preferences of individuals vary 3. Thus an economy needs cities of different sizes.

Needs in Housing Stock

In the United States, young people are marrying later and having smaller families than in the past 4, leading to a long-term decrease in the size of households.

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Source: 5

Nevertheless, sizes of houses have generally been getting bigger.

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Source: RCLCO 6.

The housing stock does not fully reflect demographic changes. As a result, there is a shortage of 1 bedroom housing units relative to larger ones.

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Occupancy rate is as defined by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: 1.5 people per bedroom. Figures are the average occupancy, weighted by population, of the largest 15 metropolitan areas in the United States. Source: Loh and Farrar 4.

Surveys confirm that, while Americans larely prefer the single family detached home, there is significant demand expressed for alternative housing forms that is not being met.

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Source: RCLCO 6.

References

  1. United Nations. "The World's cities in 2018 : data booklet". Digital Library. 2018. ↩

  2. Bertaud, A. "Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities". The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262038768. December 2018. ↩

  3. Streeter, J. "Cities on a Human Scale: The impact of community design on quality of life and upward mobility". Knight Foundation. December 2019. ↩

  4. Loh, T. H., Farrar, E. "The Great Real Estate Reset: Modernizing family: America’s demographics are transforming, but our housing supply is not". The Brookings Institute. December 2020. ↩ ↩2

  5. Fry, R. "The number of people in the average U.S. household is going up for the first time in over 160 years". Pew Research Center. October 2019. ↩

  6. Logan, G., Waldman, R. "Disruptive Demographics: Housing Production & Demographic Reality Are Moving in Different Directions". RCLCO Real Estate Consulting. March 2019. ↩ ↩2