In fact, the trends noted in the cities above are happening in spite of the fact that most walkable mixed-use urban neighborhoods today still present significant challenges for young parents to conveniently, comfortably, and affordably raise their children there. Whether it’s a lack of attainable family-sized housing, quality neighborhood schools, or access to urban parks and playgrounds, many of these neighborhoods are still not yet inclusive of all the kid-friendly amenities, institutions, and infrastructure that young urban families require.

For example, Seattle, which now has nearly 3,400 children living downtown, still does not have a public elementary school located within its downtown. Moreover, the average home sale price in downtown Seattle reached just over $600,000 in 2017, with less than 1% of downtown housing stock being comprised of 3 bedrooms or more.

The apparent contradiction of the above data illustrates a really important point: it highlights the extent to which young families with kids today truly desire an urban lifestyle — so much so that they are willing to do so against all odds and with significant challenges along the way.

Why Should Cities Care?

For any city looking to secure its near- and long-term success, providing family-friendly urban living is key. The reason for this is simple. If cities want to attract and retain the next generation — especially the next generation of young talent as well as the businesses that employ this talent — they need to shift their efforts to accommodate and capture this demand.

In fact, the private business sector is already starting to do so. For example, major companies (including the recently courted Amazon) are shifting their standard ways of doing business to meet the changing needs and desires of young adults today who are starting to form families and have children. Beginning in 2015, a whole slew of prominent companies have begun to offer new or expanded paid parental leave solely for the purpose of attracting and retaining young talent. In fact, Amazon touts this perk along with their efforts over the years to build a walkable, mixed-use, urban headquarters in downtown Seattle as major selling points to prospective employees.

Moreover, the combination of a rising demand for and a low existing supply of attainable family-friendly urban neighborhoods offers an amazing opportunity for cities on which to capitalize. For those cities that focus their efforts wholeheartedly on doing so, they stand in an incredible position to gain and grow.

With all this in mind, what would it look like if a city actively worked toward making its downtown urban neighborhoods family-friendly? More importantly, what would be the results? In the next article, which will be published Wednesday, January 17, we will take a look at a city that decades ago decided to do just that.

Read the next article in this series, "Lessons Learned in Meeting the Demand for Family-Friendly Urban Living."

(Top photo source: Thiago Cerqueira)