Editors' Summary

Abstract

Two broad premises have guided the development of the Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs. First, in recent years, the economic and social challenges of urban development have become increasingly significant. These challenges are associated with the enormous and long-term shift of population and employment from city to suburb and from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West. Some of the major problems include economic decline in older cities; the interrelationships between urban development and crime, family structure, concentrated poverty, education, and employment; the erosion of urban tax bases; relationships between cities and suburbs; urban sprawl; and environment and transportation. Some of these problems can also be found in older suburban areas. Rapidly developing areas face some of the same issues and are trying to avoid others where possible. Because these problems are ubiquitous, and in many cases may be expected to become more severe over time, scholars and policymakers may be expected to devote increased attention and resources to these issues in the future.