1528 City Space Out

A couple of interesting statistics I read the other day give the lie to our myth of downsizing. There has been a big to-do recently about Americans moving back to the cites, paring down their goods, simplifying their lifestyle, and using more mass transit.
All laudable goals to be sure. Cities are actually a great way to go green. Reduce your trip miles, centralize your resources, build up rather than out. Of course the people who like living in small cites don't like the idea of making them into big cities, especially if it means messing up their personal view with a taller building in front of them that they blocked from the person behind them when they built their house but hey, hypocritical nimby-ism takes many forms.
Whether or not one uses shoreline setbacks or isthmus protests as a justification.
Nevertheless, a recent study showed that 91 percent of population growth in U.S. metropolitan areas between 2000 and 2010 occurred in suburbs rather than city cores. Today more than 60 percent of Americans live in suburbs.
So much for moving back to the city.
Now we see why there's no downtown housing in our area and a jillion single family homes still going up. And it's probably for two reasons. One, we like our privacy. Those of us who first moved out of our parent's home into a shared apartment or college or barracks room understand the shortcomings of thin walls when it comes to things like, um, sleeping.
The other statistic I read helps explain the second reason. In 1930 the average American woman owned nine outfits. Today she purchases more than 60 pieces of clothing a year. Men a heck of a lot more too.
The biggest reason for urban sprawl?
Closet space.
America, ya gotta love it.