The ever growing ripple effect

The “scale” upon which mass social migration for the purposes of seeking desirable dwellings is wieghed, with migrations out of cities on one side and migration into the cities on the other, has begun to tilt back in favor of the urban experience.

If we are to look at the United States over the last century,  a significant shift out of cities and into rural dwellings began in earnest after the Great Depression. And that should come as no surprise to many. Economic turmoil and upheaval forced a great number of people to seek shelter and a livelihood outside of  the cities, where jobs had become scarce and opportunity was virtually non existent. The advent of WWII marked the true beginning of what was to become a lasting and defining image of American life over the second half of the last century– this image, this idea  became known as suburbia. With the economic winds shifting in favor of America, Americans became interested in moving out of the cities, which on the whole had become some what neglected and were seen, with each passing day,  more as places of commerce than places of dwelling. The natural progression was to move out in to open space where the air was cleaner, the skies were broader and each American was free to pursue their perfect piece of happiness. The implementation of the US Highway Act in 1956,  played no small role in this evolution, but it was strongly aided by a sense that America was ready to use its wealth and resources to spread itself out and begin to live a much more standardized and compartmentalized way of life.

And this model has imposed itself, very effectively on the fabric of American society for the past 60 years. Yet it has seemingly met its first real challenge, ironically, on account of another economic upheaval (maybe not as audacious as the great depression) but the ” great recession” has affected and challenged us to view many things we had come to know as iconically American. Instead of economic turmoil forcing people to seek refuge and opportunity outside of the cities, it has had the exact opposite effect. The financial cost of having to traverse miles of road to simply make it to a job or feeling isolated from networks which might be able to help one find a job or simply having bought something, such as a home, that was beyond one’s financial means instead of renting has begun to bare its teeth with blatant disregard for the ways things used to be or as some might lament, should have been. Beyond the financial impact there is the social, and beyond that there is the psycholigical impact of this streched system suburbia has created; from how and where kids are educated to how women and men approach their respective roles in this once thought of utopian world, to the practical realities of trying to live as semi-social beings when we are by nature, hyper-social beings. The urban environment seems to provide a lot of the answers for Americans seeking to shift and adjust their lives according to this new order as catalyzed by this most recent economic upheaval.

The baby boomers, a direct product of the post WWII American experience, many of whom were growing up during this shift from urban to rural relocation, are also a contributing factor in socieity’s return to the city as a whole. Their want to experience the uniqueness and fresh perspective cities provide when compared to their counterpart, suburbia, undoubtedly has influenced the boomers want to seek out apartments ,and smaller, more shared living environments, which includes the idea that one can walk to the supermarket instead of being forced to drive as is the case in suburbia . And with this return to the city comes an opportunity to serve this population in a way that fits their needs, in the way they want to be served, in accordance with the underlying reasons for why society has once again begun to favor the urban over the suburban. There is a very interesting article put out by the Harvard Business Review that seeks to highlight some of the economic and social implications of this movement. And of course, the boomers are only a small group within the vast groupings that make up American society, and many of these other groups have similar reasons for looking towards the cities as the land of opportunity, but they are not as tightly wound together in terms of social experiences, station in life and age and thus i singled out the boomers as a prime example because they are the easiest bunch to accurately generalize about.

The short of it is, Americans are turning to cities because they offer a level of sophistication and socially conscious ways of existing that people seem to once again be seeking in this period of economic contraction. And cab-sharing seems to embody in a nutshell, the experience that many Americans are returning to the cities to be exposed to and to take advantage of. We are here to do our part and we hope that you all are ready to embrace the Urban Renaissance in all its glory.

1. Darryl Coleman Says:
   May 7th, 2010 at 12:01 am

   Hello.

   I like your site and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links.

   Thanks in advance