Are American cities not as urban as they used to be?
Last year, The Architect’s Newspaper reported around 70% of American cities are suburban by area. This week, Mallory Somera of KCBS Radio’s “Bay Current” podcast sat down with Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, to figure out if new developments in the city herald a suburban change for San Francisco.
In particular, she asked about the arrival of the well-known Swedish furniture chain Ikea, as well as Total Wine & More.
“Clearly, San Francisco is going through another transition.
Wunderman told Somera. “It’s certainly not the first. And that’s what happens in cities.”
According to The Architect’s Newspaper, “urban cores have become such a small portion of the built environment that they no longer embody the problems of mainstream urbanism,” but they have new problems. With few mixed-use streets and public areas outside of commercial venues, these suburban areas lack a public dimension.
Yet, results published in 2021 by the Pew Research Center showed that Americans were less interested in city life following the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdown measures and a new wave of people working from home came along with the pandemic.
“About one-in-five U.S. adults now express a preference for living in a city, down from about a quarter in 2018,” said Pew. “The share of Americans who would like to live in the suburbs has increased from 42% to 46% during this time, while preference for rural areas is virtually unchanged.”
This July, Fortune reported that demand for suburban living persists amid a housing affordability crisis.
So, are cities really becoming more suburban to meet this demand? Is Ikea a sign of this happening to San Francisco?
“I don't know that we’ve gone quite [that] far,” said Wunderman. He added that “I think what’s happening is that you have these particular retailers who see an opportunity probably are able to get good deals on the ground floor leases, recognize that there is a population in these areas that need to be served.”
Pandemic-related stress on businesses may be opening doors for moves like this. Wunderman noted that a reduced population in the downtown area has impacted local businesses.
“That really was a direct result of the changed habits induced by the pandemic,” he said. “And here we’re talking about remote work so people don’t feel as… moved to come into the office and therefore they’re not present to take advantage of the... opportunities to purchase goods or to be entertained or to go to restaurants.”
However, he did say that things are trending better.
“We’ve been in a lot of talk over decades about how to make Market Street kind of a shopper’s place and you know... it hasn’t really been very successful. And so, I think what we’re seeing is some attempts to do new things. And I think that’s... I think on the whole positive.”
Listen to Wunderman’s full “Bay Current” interview here.
Related
Related
