Archinect - News

UIC researchers predict nearly half of all American cities will experience 'massive' depopulation trends by 2100

2024-01-17T12:05:00-05:00

The implications of this massive decline in population will bring unprecedented challenges, possibly leading to disruptions in basic services like transit, clean water, electricity and internet access. Simultaneously, increasing population trends in resource-intensive suburban and periurban cities will probably take away access to much needed resources in depopulating areas, further exacerbating their challenges.

Almost half (43%) of the 30,000 cities surveyed recently by the University of Illinois Chicago are expected to lose population while another 40% — among the country’s larger metros such as New York City and Phoenix — will experience growth through the end of this century.

Lead author Sybil Derrible told Scientific American: “The takeaway is that we need to shift away from growth-based planning, which is going to require an enormous cultural shift in the planning and engineering of cities.” Declining birth rates, income tax burdens, rising home prices, and the effects of climate change are all pivotal factors in causing the demographic change.

AIA releases study on student debt and its impact on demographic groups within the industry

2022-12-07T12:30:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has released a new study examining the impact of student debt across different demographic groups in the architecture industry.

The organization used the research company Ipsos to conduct an interview survey of over 700 members who provided insights on how everything from employment to life choices was affected by the repayment of educational loans.

AIA EVP and CEO Lakisha Ann Woods said: "This data provides critical insight into how student debt is harming the profession. Through a better understanding of how debt impacts different demographic groups among our membership, this data will help us break barriers to the profession that disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Our goal is to propel all architects to new professional heights."

Among other data, the survey found:

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all AIA membe...

U.S. Census Bureau changes its definition of an urban area, impacting 1,300 former cities and towns

2022-05-03T11:41:00-04:00

The U.S. Census Bureau has changed its definition of an urban area, which will cause hundreds of existing urban areas to be reclassified as rural. The change is centered on a new methodology for how urban areas are calculated, with the number of housing units being used as the key metric, rather than the number of inhabitants.

Under the century-old definition used prior to now, an urban area was classed as one with at least 2,500 people. Now, a place will need 2,000 housing units before being classed as urban, equivalent to around 5,000 people. In addition, the previous distinction between an “urbanized area” (50,000 residents or more) and an “urban cluster” (2,500 to 50,000 residents) will be removed, with all qualifying areas simply referred to as “urban areas.”

In addition, the Census Bureau has created three levels of definition for census blocks, the smallest geographic unit in the United States. Census blocks will be considered urban if they contain a density of 425 housing u...

Majority of new hires in America are people of color

2019-09-10T18:03:00-04:00

The surge of minority women getting jobs has helped push the U.S. workforce across a historic threshold. For the first time, most new hires of prime working age (25 to 54) are people of color, according to a Washington Post analysis of data the Labor Department began collecting in the 1970s. Minority hires overtook white hires last year.

Despite the wider trend in the American workforce, the architecture industry continues to lag in terms of diversity and gender inclusivity.

A 2018 National Council of Architectural Registration Boards report, for example, shows that although the ethnic and racial diversity within early career professionals continues to rise—roughly 45-percent of new AXP participants identified as non-white in the survey—the numbers drop off precipitously among higher ranks.

Maricopa County in Arizona, home to Phoenix, experienced the largest population growth in 2016

2017-03-24T17:44:00-04:00

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maricopa County in Arizona had the highest annual population growth in 2016. Home to the city of Phoenix, the county gained 81,360 people, or 222 people per day. More than half were people who moved to the county from another area, while 25,428 were from natural increase (births over deaths). 10,188 people came from abroad.

Meanwhile, on the other side of things, Cook County, where Chicago is located, saw the largest decrease in population with a net loss of 21,324 people. Wayne County, home to Detroit, saw 7,696 people leave, while Baltimore had a decrease of 6,738 people.

Check out more demographic data here.

It's now more common for young adults in the US to live with their parents than in any other scenario

2016-05-25T13:00:00-04:00

In that age group, 32.1 percent of people [ages 18-34] live in their parents' house, while 31.6 live with a spouse or partner in their own homes and 14 percent live alone, as single parents or in a home with roommates or renters. The rest live with another family member, a nonfamily member or in group-living situations such as a college dorm or prison. [...] the rise in the number of young adults living at home started before the economic crash — and so did the possible contributing factors.

The analysis, done by the Pew Research Center, also makes clear that this isn't the all-time high for young adults living at home – that topped out in 1940, at 35%. Still, at that time, it was more common for young adults to have shacked up with a spouse or partner.

Pew is also careful to couch the analysis in the context of other demographic developments, such as the rise of male unemployment and the fact that young adults working today make "less than they would have in their parents' day". And interestingly, as women made more, the rate of women living at home increased as well.

More on shifting residential demographics:

2015 U.S. population report shows return to pre-2000 patterns

2016-03-25T14:19:00-04:00

Today the U.S. Census Bureau released its 2015 population estimates for counties and metropolitan areas. After volatile swings in growth patterns during last decade’s housing bubble and bust, long-term trends are reasserting themselves. Population is growing faster in the South and West than in the Northeast and Midwest, and faster in suburban areas than in urban counties; both of these trends accelerated in 2015.

As "gayborhoods" gentrify, LGBTQ people move into conservative America

2016-03-10T20:03:00-05:00

Despite skewing Democrat, LGBT people are flocking to red states. It’s a sign that cities in the center of the country are becoming more accepting, but it’s also an indication that traditional LGBT safe havens are prohibitively expensive. ConsumerAffairs.com analyzed U.S. Census data and Gallup polling information to model the movement of the LGBT community from 1990 to 2014. The overall trend is striking.

"In 1990, the LGBT population was concentrated in coastal metropolitan areas and other safe havens—cities like San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Atlanta. By 2014, LGBT hot spots cropped up in some seemingly unlikely places: Salt Lake City, Louisville, Norfolk, Indianapolis, and other red state cities."

ConsumerAffairs collected an impressive body of research on the demographic patterns of the LGBTQ community, which you can check out here. For more LGBTQ-related coverage, take a look at these links:

The winners of this year's Critical Halloween at the Storefront for Art and Architecture

2015-11-04T19:49:00-05:00

Each year, Critical Halloween celebrates a feared ghost of art and architectural production. This year, we explore DEMO, which operates simultaneously as an abbreviation, a prefix, a verb, and a noun. From acts of collective will (DEMOnstration) to institutional erasure (DEMOlition), DEMO invites guests to intellectually examine ideas, issues, and objects in art, architecture, and design with a focus on those that should get a dose of DEMO.

Critical Halloween, an annual event hosted by the Storefront for Art and Architecture, is a hybrid party, critical debate, and costume contest. Each year, the organizers announce a "spooky" architectural issue or concept, which is then interpreted by design aficionados and practitioners from around the city. Then an esteemed jury selects the winners of a series of theme-appropriate categories.

This year, the theme was "DEMO" – as in demonstration, but also demolition, demon, demos, democracy, demography, etc. The jury comprised Keller Easterling, author of Extrastatecraft and other notable titles, Winka Dubbeldam of Archi-Tectonics, Andres Jacque of the Office for Political Innovation, and Beatrice Galilee, the architecture and design curator at the Met.

The Storefront has also teamed up with the art website Hyperallergic to host a "Democratic People's Choice Award" and you can vote here.

So, without any further ado, the winners of the 2015 Critical Halloween costume contest...

Best Ove...

Rural Japanese town applies "creative depopulation" to attract millennials in aging population

2015-06-03T13:45:00-04:00

As rural Japan battles the twin afflictions of a population that is getting smaller almost as quickly as it’s getting older, Kamiyama is one of a handful of towns that is bucking the trend. It’s practicing 'creative depopulation' — trying to make sure it gets younger and more innovative, even as it shrinks, by attracting youthful newcomers who are weary of big-city life to work in new rural industries.

Find your ideal neighborhood with this new 'Livability Index' online tool

Revisiting Sharon Zukin's "Loft Living" and NYC gentrification

Renzo Piano: the future of European architecture lies in the suburbs

Designing for Seniors and Soldiers, Toward a "Silver" Architecture

From an urban planning/demographics/housing junkie

2015-02-16T10:32:00-05:00

Increasingly, in the US at least, central cities are all becoming more or less the same...Meanwhile, the suburbs are becoming more diverse. Not just in terms of ethnicity as growing numbers of blacks, Asians, and Hispanics pour into the suburbs from central cities and abroad. But also in terms of winners and losers

Last year following visits to Chattanooga, Knoxville, Lexington, Cincinnati, Columbus, csen proposed four basic city/neighborhood archetypes for thinking about a non-dystopic 2030. He also wrote about Central City Homogenization and Suburban Diversification and argued for why The Sun Belt Economic Model is Amazon-omics. More recently, he asked When Will We Build Internet Cities the Way We Built Railroad/Steel Cities?

will the boomer's housing market go 'boom'?

2012-06-24T12:19:00-04:00

"Despite potential increases in new construction, most of the houses that seniors will release in coming years were built when energy was inexpensive, nuclear families were the rule, incomes were increasing for most Americans, and mortgages were generally predictable and easy to obtain. …the next 20 to 30 years to depart from this historic picture, with more expensive energy, growing diversity in race, ethnicity and in household structure, and more intense international economic competition."

the bipartisan policy center's look at the housing markets 20 years on. the upshot? there's a lot of boomer excess on the way, with no natural built-in market to absorb it. the fallout could affect everything from neighborhood infrastructure to inheritance patterns to social fabrics...