Resurrecting the Economy…Sustainable!
By Brian Skeele, on March 1st, 2011
In my last blog “What to do about the Economy?” I was saying “we need ‘sustainable mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods, with lifelong learning and open space…..everywhere’ “. Let me explain that a bit.
In 2006, Arthur C Nelson has been warning that the over supply of large lot suburban homes will be 22 million by 2025. Currently, $1.2 trillion dollars of commercial is underwater, with leases due to renew between now and 2013. Much of this commercial, as I understand it, serves the outer reaches of suburbia, the very same neighborhoods where the majority of residential foreclosures have occurred. So with all this oversupply, you might ask, how can I claim “We need sustainable mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods, with lifelong learning and open space….everywhere?”
Well, simply put…”It’s the Boomers, and their children, the Millennials!” Turns out in surveys, 1/3 of the Boomers (24 million or so) want a simpler, walkable lifestyle. And 88% of the Millennials (27 million???) want a more vibrant alive urban kind of lifestyle.
If all these demographic surveys are accurate, all we have to do to Resurrect the Economy is build higher density, vibrant alive, mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods!… READ MORE >>