Suburbs mean different things depending on where you live. If your job is not downtown, why do you want to live in downtown?
I go to meetup group that meets in Belltown (north end of downtown). Most of the people are from all over, or originally from Seattle then went away for career or marriage and have recently returned in retirement or semiretirement. Almost all of them live a few blocks away from the coffee house where they meet. I think it is a matter of taste. They have 5 or 6 activities each week, all right downtown, mostly free or inexpensive and very well attended.
I think from this thread that the suburbs will continue to satisfy very many people, certainly most people here seem to be fans of the suburbs. But there are clear urbanizing trends in SOME cities, not all cities. Certainly not cities like Phoenix. Lots of great reason to go to Phoenix, but urban lifestyle is likely not one of them. Some cities are very popular now. These are mostly Northeastern or truly coastal Western cities- not Sacramento or Fresno or something-San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Portland Seattle-and in the East DC,Philly and NYC and up the coast to Boston. All these places were settled before automobiles, and hence they are built for people on foot, not in cars. Certainly cars and Freeways have made big incursions, but I can live many months without ever going near a freeway. I can even walk downtown without seeing the Freeway that forms the eastern border of downtown proper- by crossing where the Freeway has gone underground.
There is some evidence, that in these attractive cities, it is not just young single people moving in to urban areas. All during the recent RE estate crash, Capitol Hill, Queen Ann Hill, First Hill and Downtown held value much better than places farther out, except Downtown Bellevue, and very posh eastside enclaves like Hunts Point, Yarrow Point and Medina. Downtown Kirkland is booming because it and Downtown Bellevue are the most "urban" environments on the East side of Lake Washington. And coming out of the crash, these places and similar have gained value considerably faster than more truly suburban areas like Edmonds, Lynnwood and Redmond. Young new Seattleites rent apartments, not buy expensive homes and condos.
It is true that the building boom presently going on in downtown and close is mainly apartments- nice, to luxury high rises. Condo developers got burned pretty badly in the crash, some of these buildings are still mostly in use as rentals so that remains to be seen.
But except for schools, "need more room for kids" is mostly a red herring. Look how many board members who are moving out or are already out of childbearing potential have 1 or 0 children. Not hard to raise even two or more kids in the typical small footprint townhome. After all, there are only 2 sexes. In the townhome just across from me I have old country neighbors who have Mom, Dad, 2 kids and Grandma. It's taste, and people who feel that perhaps lots of room for kids isn't more important than Mom and Dad getting home quickly after work.
Some one mentioned Dayton. Agree, beautiful city on a river. But demographic problems? It will take a generation of intrepid gentrifiers to soften that place for Mr. and Mrs. Yuppie. Yet it is happening in Cincinnati, another pre-car city.
Ohio cities invest big in river plans | www.daytondailynews.com
I have a cousin almost 60 who has never lived anywhere but downtown- either in Chicago or in Cincinnati. Her only problem is her very active lifestyle didn't leave much financial surplus and she is looking at some tough choices now-like moving to the suburbs! (Rents in a nice older but crime free suburb across the river are 1/3 those in downtown Cincy) And good bus service to downtown too which she needs s she never learned to drive.
Ha