Why Suburbs Are Starting To Look Like Cities
As young professionals and their employers continue migrating to the cities, suburbs around the country are trying to look more and more urban to get a piece of the action.
Suburbs are attempting their makeover by changing zoning laws and building office towers, high-rise apartments and new retail centers—all in a bid to attract new employers and residents, and breathe life back into the local economy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
These changes are happening across every corner of the country, from Tysons Corner in the DC metro area, where developers are planning to build apartments to match the area’s huge office parks, to North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, where developers are adding 1,500 apartments mixed with offices, a first for the area.
It’s too early to tell whether these enticements will reverse any of the urban migration, which has seen the population of college-educated 25- to 34-year-old residents in downtowns grow 44% between 2000 and 2010. [WSJ]
