Carlos Reimers, assistant professor, architecture and planning, was interviewed by Wallet Hub for a story on fast growing cities in America.
... Characteristics such as geography and climate, city size and form, city history and traditions, local government and politics are all relevant when reacting to external factors such as rapid population growth. In addition, only a handful of cities can afford having in place the technical, physical, and financial resources to respond quickly and efficiently to rapid growth.
Having said that, housing is generally speaking, the most pressing factor when cities grow rapidly. Cities with a limited housing stock or no available urban land will experiment rising prices for land and housing. As a consequence, the increasing pressure for land and housing is likely to affect the markets of rental and affordable housing for low-income residents. This is when the need for densification of urban land or the urbanization of suburban land could release some of that pressure. If this does not happen, then non-urban land is prone to be rapidly turned into suburban development, which is amongst the most practiced and profitable ways to rapidly generate housing, although it is also the less sustainable. ...
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