The suburbs are not doomed!

That’s the message of growth trend expert Robert Selbert, writing on the website, NewGeography.com. He refers to recent predictions that rising gas prices would make people consider trading down their exurban mini-mansions for more modest-sized homes closer to where they work. Also, he mentioned the urban renaissance that is supposedly underway, with people wanting to move back into cities for “culture, food, music, hipness, don’tcha know.”

Selbert points out that:

Suburbs are the nexus of American life, have been for decades, and will certainly remain so (because, like, where else are we going to put the next 100 million Americans). Suburbs are where the majority of Americans today, and in the future, live, work, shop, create, consume, recreate, educate and, perhaps most importantly, procreate.

To back up this point, he cites the U.S. Census to show that, from 2001 to 2006 90 percent all metropolitan population growth occurred in the suburbs. He adds that job growth in suburbia expanded at 6 times the rate of that in urban cores.

So, the suburbs are here to stay.