The New Urbanity: The Rise of a New America

The period from 2010 to 2030 will see as sweeping a change to America’s metropolitan landscape as the half century after World War II. During the baby boom era, 1946 through 1964, about half of American households were raising children; in 2030, only about a quarter will be. Between 2010 and 2030, the increase in the number of single-person households will be more than double the increase in the number of households with children. A major reason is the aging of the boomers: in 2010, 13 percent of the population will be age sixty-five or over; but by 2030, 19 percent of the population will be. There will be changes in the kind of housing and neighborhoods that households prefer. More than half of all households will prefer housing in neighborhoods that comprise such “urbanity” attributes as transit accessibility; proximity to shopping and restaurants; mixed uses including mixed housing choices; and mixed incomes, ages, and ethnicities. Moving toward this new urbanity will require reconsideration of several policies with roots dating from the baby boom era.