Marketing Central City Residence to an Aging Baby Boom: The Transportation Angle

This paper proposes that the aging baby boom will contribute significantly to transportation problems in the future because 1) current land use patterns necessitate dependence on cars; and 2) aging baby boom women will drive more than elderly women do now. Policies that promote central city residence by stressing the transportation advantages of high-density living, therefore, should have particular appeal to baby boom women seeking prolonged independence. Such policies would also serve the interests of localities by reducing traffic congestion, pollution, and further sprawl. We suggest that a combination of direct and indirect housing policies comparable to those that financed suburbanization fifty years ago (i.e. urban renewal, highway construction, and veterans\u27 benefits) could be implemented over the next twenty years to recentralize population by addressing the transportation needs of aging baby boomers