Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Declining, but still the overwhelming majority. 90 per cent of Boomers had kids. 85 per cent of Gen X. And now 80 per cent of Millennials.
But that’s exactly my point: Urban living is not proving the preference of Millennials; it’s proving a transitional stage for educated young workers before they start families. Which 80 per cent of them will do.
Sure, Altadore is great. I used to live there before it was gentrified. But that’s a weird example - half of Altadore is already infills and walkups. I’d wager there are 2x as many people living there today as there were in the 90s. And that’s not even considering Garrison Woods.
I’m not against that sort of mixed development at all. I’m just questioning its relative popularity vs the reviled suburbs.
City flight is happening all over North America. Without the need to live close to work, a great many people are choosing to sell their urban property for something more spacious in the burbs or a satellite community.
https://www.economist.com/united-sta...-live/21806771 |
I don't think anyone is stating that no one wants a detached house. The importance of a detached home is clearly dropping. If 15% more of the population is not having children, that's pretty substantial. Another factor we should look it is how many families are having just one child? Just two? 3 or more? Once again, with 1 child, a townhouse becomes a lot more attractive, then if you have 3 or more children. Medium density housing can also be built around schools/daycare.
Also, I totally agree with people stating that Calgary is more likely to attract people for the purpose of having children because you can buy an affordable detached home. I know multiple people who moved out of Vancouver to Calgary, because homes were affordable.
It's not an all or nothing thing. You can build a bunch of townhouses near the core and still continue to build larger detached places in the suburbs. Calgary is a very quickly growing city, so they most likely need all types of development. My point is that Calgary should not make the same mistakes other cities in Canada have made and neglect to build medium density housing.