“We all tend to think of suburbia as this very family focused place. But that’s really not the case anymore. Since 2000, already two-thirds of households in suburbia did not have kids in them. We just haven’t caught up with the realities of this. The reasons for this have a lot to with the dominance of the two big demographic groups right now, the Baby Boomers retiring, and then there’s a gap, Generation X, which is a small generation. They’re still having kids. But Generation Y hasn’t even started hitting child rearing age. They’re the other big generation.

So as a result of that, demographers predict that through 2025, 75 to 85 percent of new households will not have kids in them. And the market research, consumer research, of asking the Boomers and Gen Y what it is they would like, what they would like to live in, tells us there is going to be a huge demand — and we’re already seeing it — for more urban lifestyles within suburbia. That basically the Boomers want to be able to age in place, and Gen Y would like to live an urban lifestyle, but most of their jobs will continue to be out in suburbia.”

-Ellen Dunham