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As drive-thrus get bigger, some cities aren't lovin' it

Apr 18, 2024
The rise of online ordering drives restaurant chains to build more drive-thrus, but traffic and walkability concerns have led to bans.
Cars swarm the drive-thrus at a CosMc's in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The brand, owned by McDonald's, only serves customers in drive-thru lanes.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

Suburban home values were up 5.6% last year

Mar 6, 2024
But suburban owners still want to be close to downtown amenities.
Suburban homeowners experienced bigger price gains than homeowners near city centers over the last year, according to Redfin.
George Rose/Getty Images

Climbing housing costs rob Houston of reputation for affordability

Apr 18, 2023
Many Houston residents spend well over 30% of their income on shelter. On top of that, transportation costs are a growing burden on commuters.
Some Houston residents find themselves even more cost burdened than their counterparts in Los Angeles County. Transportation costs are part of the problem.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Pandemic exodus from big cities was short-lived

Mar 30, 2023
Census data shows fewer people are moving out of coastal urban centers, but Sun Belt states remain popular.
"One of the biggest things that landlords look at when they're deciding whether or not to rent to a tenant is their credit score," Chang said. A lower credit score can affect one's ability to move out and find a new place to live.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Retail is recovering — and flowering — in smaller cities and the suburbs

Feb 1, 2023
A new report from the JPMorgan Chase Institute finds retail has followed consumers to where many more now work and live.
Consumers are continuing to spend — just closer to home. Above, people walk at an outdoor shopping area in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Don't panic, it's just a roundabout

Dec 22, 2022
The modern roundabout was created in 1960s Britain. But since the '90s, the small Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, Indiana has slowly become the roundabout capital of the United States.
Popularized in Great Britain, roundabouts work around the key behavior of yielding to those already inside the circle.
James Brey/Getty Images.

Mall-to-medicine transitions make health care more convenient for suburban patients

Apr 13, 2022
With abundant parking and layouts that are easy to navigate, one-time shopping malls are attractive to some medical facilities looking to expand.
More than a decade ago, Vanderbilt University Medical Center moved 22 specialty clinics to a former mall, now taking up 440,000 square feet of One Hundred Oaks in Nashville.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

For public good, not for profit.

More workers are returning to offices, but downtown? Not so much.

Nov 16, 2021
The share of workers staying home due to worries about the coronavirus dropped last month to a pandemic low.
A few lights are on in a New York City high-rise. Some workers are coming back, but downtowns still have plenty of unused capacity.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

Drive-thru coffee is extra hot

Sep 17, 2021
Drive-thru coffee shops are attractive to companies because they require fewer employees — especially beneficial during a worker shortage.
Drive-thru coffee shops have seen a boon thanks to work-from-home suburbanites.
Tim Boyle via Getty Images

Latest census data finds population growth in metro areas

Aug 13, 2021
But how accurate are the figures, collected as the pandemic started, when some people began to relocate?
Phoenix grew at a faster rate in the last decade than any other major metropolitan city in the U.S., new census data shows.
Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images