RE: The U.S. in 2050: Bigger, younger, less white, less urban
I plan on reading the book. It is the first I have seen, as an urban planner, that really addresses the reality of the cities that exist on the fringe. In Canada, few of these cities are truly suburban (bedroom communities) but are instead part of a conurbation - a situation that exists when distinct cities grow into each other. These cities have employment and always have - it tends to be industrial or more recently, big box commercial on industrial lands, rather than finance, insurance, real estate and services. Many urban planners dismiss these areas by either simply labeling them as evil or as 'something we can do nothing about.' (Even though so many of them choose single family houses themselves.)
These areas simply need to be retrofitted. Sidewalks where there aren't any, some density around smaller commercial centres and strips, encouragement of secondary suites where appropriate, better local transit (instead of expensive high end transit linking local nodes to regional nodes), and improved energy efficiency through retrofits. And more employers who acknowledge that you can speak to your employees via phone if you need to; they do not need to be in the office everyday.
