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As the appetite for urban living in the U.S. increases, cities are facing a need for housing not seen in decades. In this special report, we look at three metropolitan areas working to accommodate growing populations. In Boston, as people follow the tech sector and other enterprises into the urban core, the city is reinventing its historic neighborhoods and creating new ones. Portland, Oregon, is racing to keep up with an influx of newcomers seeking the much-hyped quirkiness that the city has embraced as a brand. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has emerged as a hub for new industries—from technology to film—attracting a population enchanted by its unique history and culture. Despite high demand pushing up housing costs, all three cities are struggling to maintain economically diverse communities—an essential ingredient of a thriving urban center.
Boston is at a crossroads—one that is every bit as transformative as the epic battle between the Brahmin establishment and the emerging Irish political class in the 19th century.
Even on a particularly airless late-summer evening, the appeal of the Bywater, a once-working-class New Orleans neighborhood just downriver from the French Quarter, cuts through the oppressive humidity.
Portland is a strange land: a place where curbside compost is picked up more frequently than garbage, where the first new bridge over the Willamette River in 40 years doesn't allow private cars, and where the mayor would like to build tiny houses for the homeless on public property.