CityLab Daily: Red Counties + Blue Folks = Purple?

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What We’re Following

Purple people meter: Americans are increasingly moving from Clinton-voting counties to Trump-voting counties, according to new 2017 Census local population estimates—and debating the political implications is sure to be a demographer’s favorite parlor game. The new estimates show that urban counties are adding fewer people, and continuing a trend toward faster-growing suburbs that began in 2012. But the shift to red counties isn’t necessarily bad news for Democrats, or good news for Republicans, Indeed economist Jed Kolko writes for CityLab:

The population is shifting not simply from blue to red places, but toward red places that are themselves moving left.

—Andrew Small

More on CityLab

Before and After

Sidewalk Labs has a new open-source photo map tool providing a block-by-block look back at Toronto, dating as far back as 1856. With over 30,000 photographs, it’s a handy way to find potential before and after scenes, like this Yonge Street comparison that documents the dramatic change from streetcars to automobiles. Of course, the Alphabet company’s offering isn’t entirely disinterested: It wants to reimagine its own part of Toronto with a 12-acre “smart city” waterfront development called Quayside.

What We’re Reading

As pedestrian deaths spike, scientists scramble for answers (Wired)

Cities are trying to make housing more affordable—by making some rents more pricey (Slate)

Why we should be building like the ancient Greeks (Fast Company)

The Amazon-Whole Foods era of grocery just claimed its first victims (Washington Post)

Uber’s need to deploy driverless cars before running out of money may endanger the whole industry (Quartz)

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