On the Move

Hope Yen, writing for the Associated Press, reports on the growing migration into cities:

Out are the super-sized McMansions in far-flung suburbs and in the sprawling Southwest, which helped drive rapid metro area growth in the early to middle part of the last decade in places such as Phoenix; Las Vegas; Orlando, Fla.; and Atlanta. In are new, 300 square-foot “micro” apartments under consideration for wider development in dense cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle, which are seeking to attract young single adults who value affordable spaces in prime locations to call their own.

The trend is towards more compact, walkable neighborhoods. I think the comparison between McMansion and micro apartment unnecessarily clouds the point. People don’t choose a micro apartment because they would rather have less space. They choose a smaller apartment because it enables a lifestyle they want to live. This doesn’t need to be a choice between two extremes. Walkable neighborhoods exist at all scales and can include a wide variety of housing types.