Check out this neat site that shows the relative affordability of the city verses the suburbs by calculating housing plus transportation costs.

Did you know that transportation costs represent the number two household expense for most Americans and that US homeowners consistently underestimate their transportation expenses?

This a timely post because the federal government recently began working to include transportation costs in its housing affordability index, according to Streetsblog. This is part of the President’s Building Sustainable Communities initiative.

Between 2000 and 2008, large metropolitan areas saw their suburban poverty rates grow at twice the rate of inner cities, according to a new report by the Brookings Institution.
For example, in 2008, 23 percent more people were living in poverty outside the city of Cleveland’s borders than inside it. That’s a 44 percent jump since 2000, for a total of 9 percent of the suburban population. Meanwhile the number of poor in the city of Cleveland decreased, WCPN Ideastream reports.
Similar trends were reported in Akron and Youngstown.
Also of note:
-Social service …

Among the theories about the cause of the demise of Detroit, this one’s one of my personal favorites.
According to this article published in The Pop Up City, auto culture, specifically sprawl, literally drained the life out of Detroit.

“The Detroit exodus began emerging right after the moment the car industry started to boom,” says writer Joop De Boer.
“Detroit’s population halved within 50 years, changing the city from a vibrant metropolis into an urban vacuum.”
“For years all over the world the economically strongest have chosen to leave the inner cities, and find …

Portland. Seattle. Minneapolis. Besides being magnets for well-educated young people, what do these cities have in common?

According to Aaron Renn, creator of the Urbanophile blog, they all have a relatively low proportion of black people.

In an article published on New Geography, Renn asks, is the trend towards cities like Portland a form of nationwide suburban sprawl?

Is it only a coincidence that cities with a high proportion of black residents are so often the most maligned, like Detroit, Cleveland and Youngstown?

The Infrastructurist has catalogued the 11 greatest train stations to meet the wrecking ball (pictures and all!).
The short list: New York’s Penn Station, Memphis’ Union Station and Atlanta’s Terminal Station.
The article laments: Almost like a rite of passage, cities across the country embraced the era of Interstates, Big Macs, and suburban sprawl by tearing down their train depots. (Frequently, they just did the Joni Mitchell thing and put up a parking lot.)

Does sprawl make you angry? Then you have something in common with James Howard Kunstler, “the world’s most outspoken critic of suburban sprawl.” How about a 20-minute rant to ease your rage? It will make you feel better, I swear.

   Cleveland’s Eaton Corporation is asking the Cuyahoga County Port Authority to loan it $170 million so it can move its corporate headquarters from downtown Cleveland to move to suburban Chagrin Highlands, The Plain Dealer is reporting.
   The industrial manufacturing giant received $71 million in tax breaks from the state of Ohio in October for the move, which the company says is necessary to provide room for growth. The state provided the funds after Eaton threatened to move to another state.
   The port authority is expected to approve the loan …