Ohio and the 2010 Census

The data was released, and it isn't pretty.  Most of West Central and Northwest Ohio lost population.  Meanwhile, in the urban areas, the suburban sprawl intesified.  Much of the discussion recently, especially by Edward Glaeser, has been about density.  The trend here is in the opposite direction, just when we might see peak oil, limiting the ability to continue commuting over long distances. Here are a couple of maps of population change, first the Cincinnati area:

Now a map of the Dayton area:

Both maps show population shifts which lower density.  This would be all well and good if there wasn't a struggling economy which limits the ability of the central cities to maintain existing infrastructure, and there wasn't a transportation problem looming on the horizon.  Here is a chart of Cincinnati's population over its history:

So not only is the population of the city decreasing dramatically, forcing a smaller number of people to pay to maintain an infrastructure which remains the same size, but that infrastructure was put in when the city was growing, meaning it is almost all at least 60 years old.

The rapid building in the outlying areas creates another infrastructure system in an area which may end up lacking the density necessary to function effectively if exclusive automobile transportation becomes untenable. 

I'll go out on a limb, and predict that we will regret the last 20 years of development in the next 20 years.  With that, have a beautiful day.