# The Human City

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2016-11-19

aaron-m-renn, aaron-renn, cities, joel-kotkin, podcast, suburbs, the-urbanophile, uncategorized, urbanism

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As a follow-up to [yesterday’s post](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/153330390088/your-own-signpost) about fluid labor markets and urban density, I thought I would present an opposing view.

[Joel Kotkin](http://www.joelkotkin.com/) is a well known geographer and author. He has published a number of books, the most recent of which is called, [The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572841729/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1572841729&linkCode=as2&tag=theurban-20&linkId=PK2IFFGWIEZF7QPS). He is also well known as a supporter of the suburbs, which is a somewhat contrarian view in today’s urban-centric world.

Here is a recent interview he did with Aaron M. Renn ([click here](https://soundcloud.com/aaronrenn/the-human-city-with-joel-kotkin) if you can’t see it below):

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One of his messages is that the urban core is great for young people without kids, but that we shouldn’t expect it to serve everyone’s needs and wants – particularly those of families. Families need space and affordability, and urban cores are simply not engineered for that.

Long live the suburb.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/the-human-city)*