SoCal Becoming More Urban, Less Suburban as Buyers Flock to Condos

Strong population growth, largely fueled by immigration, continues to transform America's landscape. This is especially true in Southern California, which is expected to absorb another 6.3 million new residents over the next 30 years. That's roughly three-quarters of the size of New York City! In a region that has long been plagued with terrible gridlock, asthma-inducing smog and land-hungry gridlock, where are all those new residents going to live? The answer, it seems, may be more densely populated condos and apartments, versus more traditional, yard-bound single-family homes. Over the past six years, Los Angeles has approved more than 14,000 condos and apartments for construction in the San Fernando Valley, which is nearly three times the number of single-family homes. In Los Angeles County, 60% of dwellings built in 1993 were single-family, whereas that number plunged to only 38% last year. The trend has been spreading outward to Orange and Riverside Counties as well. What does this shift away from suburban and toward more urban living mean? On one hand, infrastructure like roads, schools, water lines and the power grid may be severely overstressed. On the other, denser packing can be more eco-friendly, versus sprawling ever outward and gobbling up more virgin land. The key is to make sure new developments are smartly planned. Taking advantage of the principles of "new urbanism," units can be placed along major public transportation routes to encourage people to get out of their cars (clearly, Southern California needs much more investment in transit as well!). In-fill and redevelopment is much better than breaking totally new ground. Green building techniques relieve stress on power and stormwater infrastructure. The changes in California should also underscore how important it is to curb population growth around the world. In many developing countries, population increases are much more dramatic than they are in the U.S., and are based on high birth rates instead of immigration. All those people need to live and work somewhere, and that has environmental impacts. Urban planners have a crucial role in how severe those impacts will be.

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