How many people are there? Where do they live? Which way is the population moving?
Businessmen, government officials, and citizens choosing places to live and work need the answers. The U.S. Bureau of the Census answers these questions, but not always in a form that fits the decisions we make. To analyze markets, labor supply and living conditions for New York City and its environs, seven of the largest Census groupings must be combined and data must be compared to earlier figures in several ways to point up population trends.
Grouping and comparing of Census figures silhouettes several significant facts about the New York Metropolitan Region. The Region has been growing swiftly, but the nation as a whole has been growing even faster. The population has been spreading generally outward in the Region, with older centers thinning out, but growth has been far faster in some directions than in others.
Within a few months, Regional Plan Association will publish more detailed population projections to 1985. In addition, the Association will sketch a physical profile of the Region as it will appear in 1985 if present population, housing and job trends continue. The effects of these trends on business and governmental costs also will be analyzed.
At the same time, different ways in which the Region could be developed will be sketched, suggesting alternative directions for metropolitan growth. Consulting with a wide variety of civic, governmental and business leaders, the Association will work out recommended guidelines for a productive and satisfying metropolis for 1985.
