Are We Sustainable?

The issue of sustainability has obvious ramifications for how we design our communities and the transportation system to serve it. Recent trends see people moving closer in to the urban core, and that once-dormant cities/activity centers are now attracting population. At the same time, housing in these activity and employment centers are becoming less affordable.

Can our cities and activity centers continue to attract growth without housing becoming so unaffordable that lower-income families are priced out of the market? Where, then, will these families live? Farther out where land is available and the commutes are longer, or to some other place altogether?

Old and Young

We are becoming older and younger. Concurrent with the graying of society, there is also another large group of people, sometimes called Generation Y, sometimes the “Echo Boom”, who interact with society in completely different ways than earlier generations. They are of the digital age, grew up with personal computers, cell phones, MP3 players and electronic money, and they are connected instantly to a dizzying array of information, entertainment, goods and services. This will alter today’s idea of governance. Government will be more transparent and citizens will be able to react, in force, very quickly to any government action, all of which should lead to greater accountability.

Will our local and state governments adapt to new ways of citizen involvement, or will younger citizens become more disaffected and disinterested in public affairs?