Quote:
Originally Posted by jd3189
I was just thinking about it a few days ago. It seemed like the 80s was the best time for American suburbs. Shopping malls were en vogue, LA was on its way to eclipse Chicago as the 2nd largest city, and a lot of the major films and TV shows of that era took place in the suburbs. On the other hand, US cities were dealing with white flight, crime, reduced public funding, and gentrification was not as widespread. It wasn't until the 90s that things started to shift toward cities again and a lot of the hallmarks of suburban living back then have had issues since.
What do you guys think? I could be wrong but it kinda makes sense?
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The low point was probably about 1965-1980, during and after the urban riots of the 1960s, and high crime and economic stagnation/ inflation of the 1970s. After 1982, as the economy hit bottom, stocks boomed so by the mid to late 1980s things began to move up in the cities. Demographics also helped, as the baby boom generation moved out of the crime prone teens and early 20s. Unfortunately, we seem to be going in the wrong direction, with crime rising again and homelessness out of control. Still, we are below late 1970s level of crime.