Whether Charlotte wants to grow more or not

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An Axios piece suggests many in the growing city of Charlotte in the surrounding suburbs do not want the rapid growth to continue.

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As Charlotte barrels toward a population of 1 million, the city of transplants and unicorn natives is uniting behind a common phrase:

  • “We’re full.”

But are there arguments made on both sides, some for growth and others against?

Charlotte built a reputation as a place to escape more crowded, costlier cities. Now, residents fear rapid growth is recreating what they fled, from the Atlanta-scary traffic to the New York sticker shock…

“There’s really no equilibrium for a city,” says Andrew Blumenthal, a real estate broker and vice chair of Charlotte’s planning commission. “Either you’re growing, or you’re not.”

  • But Charlotte is playing catch-up on infrastructure…

Regional leaders this week shot down multi-billion-dollar plans to add toll lanes to I-77, the commuter route between ballooning Fort Mill and Charlotte.

It sounds here like rapid growth has led to some concerns. Charlotte’s population has more than doubled since 1990. This puts pressure on roads and local services. This affects housing supply and demand. This changes the experiences of particular neighborhoods and communities.

But American communities tend to see growth as good. Growth means there is new construction, more business activity. A growing population means the city and region is more visible at the national level.

What do leaders and residents in Charlotte want the city and region to be? Growth is not inevitable and leaders and residents can help steer it in particular directions. They can make decisions that affect future growth and what people experience in the next few decades.

It would be nice to have some data about what people in the region want. How do they feel about the growth beyond the typical American NIMBY responses of how their properties and lives might be affected or the excitement about new opportunities growth might ring. Should Charlotte keep sprawling? Who do they envision living there? What might happen when the growth slows down?

Arlington, TX is where the American Dream lives?

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I don’t know how I missed that Arlington, Texas is the American Dream City:

This campaign apparently started a while back. here is what local leaders said contributed to developing this slogan:

“Arlington is multi-dimensional with a lot to offer families, businesses, consumers and visitors,” said Jay Warren, Arlington Marketing Communications Manager. “When building this brand, it was important that we approach it by looking at the entire community. We wanted to make sure it represents all of Arlington.”

With an excelling education system (four independent school districts, the University of Texas at Arlington and Tarrant County College), a strong entrepreneurial business community and diverse neighborhoods where the housing dollar stretches further than most cities, Arlington is a direct reflection of how the American Dream thrives when citizens have a can-do, independent spirit and city pride.

Throughout its history, even when faced with those who said it wasn’t possible, Arlington has become home to a host of international brands, including:

  • The nation’s first regional theme park of American family fun, Six Flags Over Texas
  • American manufacturing with the General Motors plant
  • America’s pastime with the Texas Rangers and the iconic Globe Life Park
  • America’s Team with the Dallas Cowboys and its world-class AT&T Stadium
  • And, the United States Bowling Congress, celebrating the most participatory sport in the world

Located between two major cities, Arlington is a large suburb of over 400,000 residents. It is a racially and ethnically diverse city with a household median income of over $75,000. The homeownership rate is over 54%.

Using “American Dream” implies two things about the city. It is possible to achieve upward social mobility in Arlington. It also signifies reaching a certain level of success, particularly the middle class status of suburban homeownership.

I do not know if these features are more true in Arlington than they are in other suburbs. The Opportunity Atlas suggests Tarrant County, TX, the county in which Arlington is located, may not have provided much mobility over the decades. Four other Texas suburbs are in the Top 10 of the recent US News & World Report list of best places to live (and Arlington ranks at #56 in Texas). At the same time, having multiple major pro sports stadiums would be noteworthy to sports fans.

Now this gets me thinking: what suburbs have upward social mobility and a middle-class lifestyle? This might preclude places that have people who all already made it or are not doing much better than their parents or previous generations.

Billy Joel and “The Great Suburban Showdown”

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I have not listened to an early Billy Joel album for a long time. In my quest to find more music that explicitly references suburbs, I recently ran into his song “The Great Suburban Showdown,” track number three on his 1974 album Streetlife Serenade. The character in the song is headed home for a visit and this is the chorus:

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I’ve been gone for a while
Made some changes in my style
And they say you can’t go home anymore
When the streets all look the same
And I’ll have to play the game
We’ll all sit around in the kitchen chairs
With the tv on, with the neighbors there

The song describes several common images of American suburbs:

  1. Family life in suburbia. Home is where mom and dad are. There are barbeques, neighbors.
  2. Things look the same and the suburbs have not changed.
  3. In contrast to #1 and #2, the main character is now living somewhere else. He has made changes to his life while the suburban life still looks and feels the same. Suburban life is dull and predictable but not other kinds of places are not like this.

The song refers to a “suburban showdown” where all this will come into conflict. Joel himself grew up in suburban Long Island; could he be referring in this song to his own experiences?

One person living in a 30,000 square foot house

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How does one person live all by themselves in a giant home?

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“When you’re real, you realize when you mess up,” he told Rooks. “I live in a 30,000-square-foot house by myself. You don’t think I know I messed up?”

I could imagine a positive story emerging out of this. A kid’s movie where a girl or boy discovers they are all alone among 30,000 square feet. All the rooms. The unique options that come with such a home. They can do whatever they want.

Or it could be a heartwarming adult tale where someone somehow acquires such a house and finds ways to use it for good. People who need a place to stay. Space for people to pursue their passions. What had been a house for the wealthy becomes a blessing for many.

But the way this true scenario is briefly described above makes for a sad story. It is such a large house and only one person lives there. It could be full of family and friends. The large house represents success and wealth but it is empty of people. American homes are not just status symbols and investments; they are for households of people to enjoy.

The story could have a happy ending. Perhaps relationships can be rebuilt. All that space could be used to host family and friends. An empty big house does not have to stay empty.

Visiting the many farmers markets in the Chicago suburbs

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As the weather warms up, residents of the Chicago suburbs can visit many farmers markets. This list shows 54 options held across the week and across the region.

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From my study of suburban communities and their character, here is what I would want to know about all these farmers markets: what makes them unique from each other? Are there features that connect them to the suburb in which they are being held? Here are a few factors that could influence this:

  1. The setting in which they are held. Is the market in a parking lot? A special space constructed for this? Near historic buildings? The setting could help set the tone and indicate the importance of the market.
  2. Are the goods sold significantly different across markets? Do some markets specialize in certain items compared to others? How much do the vendors differ across markets?
  3. Who is the intended customer? This could be tied to the goods sold and the setting as well as other things offered at the market. Do some try to attract kids? Which ones are dog friendly? How do the markets approach customers with different levels of resources?
  4. How does the farmer’s market fit in with the other events in the suburban community? Is the market the one regular event or is there a full calendar of options for residents and visitors to choose from?
  5. Who comes to the farmers market? Are these primarily for residents or do these draw more widely from neighboring suburbs?

This could be a research project with dozens of markets to visit and examine.

“Attainable housing” price points in a wealthy suburb

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A developer has proposed a new set of nearly 300 luxury apartments in Naperville:

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Their target demographics are people ages 25 to 35 and 50 to 64. The former group makes up about 16% of Naperville’s population whereas 21% are ages 55 to 64.

“The residential use will provide an additional housing opportunity to an underserved segment of Naperville’s population sometimes referred to as ‘renters by choice’ and folks looking for quality housing along the I-88 employment corridor,” the petition said.

Proposed rents run from $1,900 to $2,000 for a studio, $2,050 to $2,400 for a one-bedroom, and $3,000 to $4,400 for a two-bedroom. According to the petition, the majority of the units would be considered attainable housing for the city’s population.

Naperville’s average median income is about $150,360, the petition said. For the person whose average median income is $120,288, about 90% of the apartments at CityGate II would be considered attainable. For the person who makes $90,126, more than 60% of the apartments would meet that threshold.

Naperville is a wealthy suburban community. According to the American Community Survey, owner-occupied units have a median value of $540,000 and the median rent is $1,885.

The developer is not claiming this is affordable housing. The price points would need to be much lower, particularly given Naperville’s median household income. This is “attainable housing,” a different category with a different audience in mind. This is for young professionals and downsizers (looking at the age categories). This is for people who work white-collar jobs in the I-88 corridor, a set of properties crucial to Naperville’s development from the announcement of Bell Labs building a facility in the 1960s.

Another category of people communities like Naperville like to discuss as possible residents are civil servants. Could school teachers, police officers, and firefighters live in this new development? City employees?

Luxury apartments are for certain kinds of possible residents or existing residents. Is there a kind of semi-luxury apartments that could be approved?

The Chicago area leading the way in warehouses

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The Chicago region has become a center for warehouses in recent decades:

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Few places in the nation have been transformed so completely so quickly. Since 2000, retail giants and developers have erected more than 146 million square feet of warehouse space in the Chicago area — equivalent in size to roughly 1,400 Home Depot stores…

But Chicago is in a different league. The warehouse boom in the Chicago suburbs took off in earnest in the early 2000s with the construction of the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, the largest inland port in North America, where trucks and trains swap goods. It sits just outside Elwood, a Will County town of roughly 2,200 residents. In 2015, Amazon opened its first Illinois warehouse, in Joliet.

For a study about warehouses and pollution, researcher Gaige Kerr examined real estate listings from the commercial data company CoStar and determined that there were roughly 6,800 warehouses in the Chicago area as of 2022. Their combined square footage eclipsed that of warehouse space in the Los Angeles metropolitan area — home to the nation’s two largest shipping ports — by 13%.

Of the nation’s 25 largest metro areas, Chicago had the most warehouse square footage per person, Kerr found.

The article goes on to describe the effects on local communities and residents. See an earlier post about some of these effects in the town of Elwood. Is it good to have all these warehouses? Some local residents do not think so. All the people who order online and expect quick deliveries may disagree.

At the same time, these figures cited above tell an important story: the Chicago area is now full of warehouses. With the changes in the retail industry, outlying areas in the Chicago region became home to facilities and vehicles that could quickly transport goods.

These changes build on advantages the Chicago area already had. It is located in the central part of the United States. It is connected via waterways to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. It was an early railroad center and has one of the busiest airports. It is the third largest metropolitan region in the US.

Would any city or metropolitan areas want to be known for warehouses? It is less glamorous than other industries. One figure might be interesting to add what is already reported here: how much do these facilities add to the local economy?

At least four Illinois municipal leaders in favor of giving up some local zoning control in order to build more housing

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The leaders of Sesser, Des Plaines, Lexington, and Oak Park, Illinois recently described why they support the BUILD plan proposed by Governor Pritzker:

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You are probably wondering why local officials are challenging the instinct of protecting local control. But here’s the reality: The housing market does not stop where our towns end. The housing market, and subsequent shortage, crosses municipal boundaries and affects communities across Illinois, from large cities to small towns. Yet the system for addressing it remains fragmented and reflects the larger problems that we are all facing — the fewer houses available, the more expensive those few become. That’s why we support a statewide solution to give us the framework to do the things that make sense for our individual towns. BUILD does not replace local control with a one-size-fits-all system. It does not override community character or dictate identical development across Illinois. It creates a tool kit for us to implement a housing vision for our individual communities that addresses our unique needs on an improved and more efficient, affordable and attainable timeline.

BUILD would mean more townhomes, two-flats, duplexes, cottages, bungalows — just regular types of houses that have historically formed the backbone of neighborhoods, made housing affordable and showcased the uniqueness of Illinois’ architecture. They are the homes that allowed working families, young people and seniors to live in communities they could afford. Somewhere along the way, these types of houses stopped being built. Regular, affordable houses have since become so rare that people think the only options are unattainable mega-mansions or luxury high-rise developments. It does not have to be this way.

BUILD would restore balance and establish a clear, statewide baseline that makes it possible to build regular types of housing in the first place. BUILD would establish minimum expectations and set a baseline to meet every locality’s housing needs, while preserving and enhancing the character of what makes each of our towns so unique. From there, we would retain control over how that housing fits in our communities through design standards, form and local context. We would still shape where housing goes, how buildings look and how development fits in our communities.

Several quick thoughts in response:

  1. This is an interesting mix of communities: two small towns, one in central Illinois, one in southern Illinois, and two Chicago suburbs. How many communities near them would agree with these arguments? Will there be a clear set of communities for and against this plan or will more quietly work behind the scenes?
  2. Each of the op-ed writers are leaders in their communities: three mayors, one village president. How many of their fellow local officials, elected or not, would agree with them? Pushing a little further, does this become an important local campaign issue for those running for municipal office?
  3. If there are some communities more open to the BUILD plan than others, would they end up with significantly more new housing units if the BUILD plan goes forward? Do they see the BUILD plan as the way to population growth and all that comes with that (status, construction jobs, etc.)?

And I would still be interested to know what kind of incentives would be needed for developers to take a big interest in cheaper or affordable housing in the four communities highlighted here…

Let’s hear more about what it is like to live in one of the booming exurbs in the United States

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Where are some of the fastest growing communities in the United States?

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The latest Census Bureau data show that some of the fastest-growing cities are often sitting in the distant orbit of a larger city and centered on booming master-planned communities.

By absolute numbers and percentages, these communities highlighted by the Wall Street Journal have grown quite a bit since 2020.

But what is it like to experience that rapid growth? It could be new and exciting. Change, development, construction. Increased status. A sense that something is happening here.

It could also mean new features that change day-to-day life in negative ways. Traffic. Less open space. More people around. Do these newcomers care about the community like we do? That’s a lot of people to add in a short time and earlier residents might have liked their previous experience.

At some point, the rapid growth of these communities will slow. That could bring its own issues; are the glory days past? Why is a community a little further out now getting all the attention? How do we pay for maintaining the infrastructure and the established quality of life?

If suburban patterns continue in the United States, these exurbs could be established suburbs in a few decades with the rapid growth happening in a place further out from the big city.

Americans may care more about local nature than about broader environmental issues

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Focusing on local nature and land may help bring Americans together around environmental concerns:

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Climate is hugely divisive and nature isn’t. In a 2025 poll, a 50-percentage-point gap, 84–34, separated Democrats and Republicans on the question of whether the U.S. should “take a more active role in global climate efforts.” Support for “conservation lands and wildlife,” however, was 80 percent among Dems and 61 percent among Republicans. People of all stripes, it turns out, run, hike, bike, collect firewood and food in the wild. Ninety-six million Americans bird-watch, 58 million fish, and 14 million hunt.

“If you get down to the local level, genuine bipartisan collaboration can happen because there are people on both sides of the proverbial aisle who really care about the places that they live,” Michelle Nijhuis, the author of Beloved Beasts, which chronicles the history of the American conservation movement, told me.

This kind of collaboration should be channeled to expand publicly accessible natural lands. Call it an “environmentalism of places,” in which people take care of ecosystems near them for the good of plants, animals, water, and human psychological well-being. Climate advocates can refer to these very real, locally known places to make climate change real and relevant to people.

The suggestion here is people have more interest and knowledge in local places they know compared to places less familiar to them. It is the difference between nature they may encounter regularly versus abstract notions of nature that they may or may not have much first-hand experience with or knowledge of.

If “all politics is local,” how could the environmental movement better connect local and national or international concerns? Is it making clear the local implications of broader patterns? Is it getting people involved at a local level and then asking them to expand their scope to other places? Or perhaps people will have a hard time looking beyond their local contexts and policies and efforts need to have clear local connections or benefits.

More broadly, Ben Norquist and I argue in our forthcoming book Every Somewhere Sacred that we have a responsibility for the places in which we are in and should care about other places. How much do we know about it? What kind of stories do we tell about land and place and what better stories can we tell? What can we do collectively and individually in these places? This does not necessarily mean ignoring other places but rather telling better land stories about where we are and our broader context.