This article discusses the change in population in urban areas and suburbs in the developed country of the United States currently. What is happening is that the children of the baby boomer generation are reversing the trend of urban sprawl by moving back into cities. An example of this would be Houston, young people are moving there because living in the suburbs has become too difficult. Not to mention the vastly greater amount of resources living a suburban life takes up. It is also cheaper to live in cities which has played a large role in the repopulation of urban cities. It is also cheaper to live in a city because people don't need to have a mortgage or car payment because in a city all they have to do it rent an apartment and either walk or use public transportation. Cities are also making it illegal to live in a suburb to suppress urban sprawl by creating green belts, an example of this would be Portland, Oregon which we went over in class. To conclude, many believe that urban sprawl is an issue that can really only be resolved through laws and taxes but in reality it seems as though urban sprawl is slowing down and the repopulation of urban centers is speeding up.

This article illustrates the changing function and importance of cities, specifically in the developing country of China currently. It appears as though the Chinese government want people to move into cities in order to make them more of a consumption headquarters. As of right now in China a majority of the cities are based on the manufacturing industry of products for export. The government wants to get more people to move to cities and to redefine what their cities are about. They want to take the next step in their urban development and turn into what the United States is today, an economy that is based and depends on high consumption of high value products. The stage China is at is the stage of manufacturing and exporting. They want to make the jump to the next step, which may take some time but is doable.

This article takes place in England but you could also say it takes place in Canada as well. It happened on April 30th and is a developing story in two developed countries. The topic is the construction of a high speed rail line that would connect different parts of England and also London to Toronto. The article demonstrates the increasing interconnectedness of urban centers not only across country's but also continents. This is also a great way to change the urban transportation model as a whole. The high speed rail is a great public transport alternative to cars. This would cut down on emissions in urban areas drastically if there were less cars on the road and more people taking high speed rail. This article illustrates the beginning of change in today's urban model of just laying down pavement wherever to get anywhere.