FOR PEOPLE

Introduction
Cities succeed by making life better
for the vast majority of their citizens.
This requires less of a focus on grand
theories, architecture or being
fashionable, and more on what occurs
on the ground level. “Everyday life,”
observed the French historian Fernand
Braudel, “consists of the little things
one hardly notices in time and space.” 1
Braudel’s work focused on people who
lived normal lives; they worried about
feeding and housing their families,
keeping warm, and making a livelihood. 2
Adapting Braudel’s approach to the
modern day, we concentrate on how
families make the pragmatic decisions
that determine where they choose to
locate. To construct this new, familycentric
model, we have employed various
tools: historical reasoning, Census
Bureau data, market data and economic
statistics, as well as surveys of potential
and actual home-buyers.
This approach does not underestimate
the critical role that the dense, traditional
city plays in intellectual, cultural and
economic life. Traditional cities will
continue to attract many of our brightest
and most capable citizens, particularly
among the young and childless. But our
evidence indicates strongly that, for the
most part, families today are heading away
from the most elite, more congested cities,
and towards less expensive cities and the
suburban periphery. (see appendix “Best
Cities for Families”)
New York, San Francisco, and
Los Angeles long have been among the
cities that defined the American urban
experience. But today, families with
children seem to be settling instead in
small, relatively inexpensive metropolitan
areas, such as Fayetteville in Arkansas
and Missouri; Cape Coral and Melbourne
in Florida; Columbia, South Carolina;
Colorado Springs; and Boise. They are
also moving to less celebrated middlesized
metropolitan areas, such as Austin,
Raleigh, San Antonio and Atlanta. 3
Traditional cities will continue to attract
many of our brightest and most capable
citizens, particularly among the young and
childless. But our evidence indicates strongly
that, for the most part, families today are
heading away from the most elite, celebrated
cities, and towards less expensive cities and
the suburban periphery.
BEST CITIES FOR PEOPLE 9