The momentum of history changes once again. From the Great Migration to Urban Flight to Gentrification and something new again entirely. But Ehrenhalt says differently.

The old demographic shift was that more affluent Americans moved away from the city, in order to get away from crime, blight, and so forth. Now that the old projects have been demolished, new condos are rising, and people move back in droves. Primarily for convenience. Gas prices have a role in it.

Suburbs will yet remain as places to raise families, he says, but they will have more open-air, pedestrian-based commercial markets, to make them more appealing to those who moved out of the city in the first place.

This is happening to a surprising extent. Strollers and families are trickling into New York's Financial District. The lower classes are starting to be relegated to exterior neighborhoods of the city. Those who have money also have mobility. From the center, they can go to exterior areas as they please. For comparison, see Paris and Vienna in the late 19th century. See the Viennese Ringstrasse or the Paris arrondisements reborn, but in Chicago or Denver.

Not all cities are suited for this. Some, which never had centers to begin with, will yet struggle to create ones. See Phoenix. Others, with gutted urban centers, will struggle to attract and revitalize theirs. See Detroit. But these trends may continue, in a severely attenuated form.

Of course, it's very difficult to predict population and cities on such a large scale. Ehrenhalt, with his basis on both historical and modern economic/demographic backgrounds, may be closer than most. Of course, he gives a nod to technology and communication, and location might not even matter *as* much, as some may stay huddled in suburbia, linked to the world with our laptops. But it all remains to be seen. I'll bet with him for now. ( )

Ehrenhalt argues that there is a tendency for upper middle class Americans to move back into city centres and similar "live/work/play" walkable communities. This is contrary to the latter half of the 20th century in which the city centres were abandoned and anyone with the financial means fled to the suburbs.
But the best part of the book is the analysis of specific communities in selected US cities. I don't know the cities in question but the author's description gives a good insight into the difficulties of resusitating downtowns or of transforming suburbia. The illustrations make it clear that there is no simple formula for urbanizing.