“The places that are booming in size aren’t the economic boomtowns — the regions with the greatest prosperity and highest productivity. In theory, we’d expect those metros, like the Bay Area, Boston and New York, to be rapidly expanding, as people move from regions with high unemployment and meager wages to those with high salaries and strong job markets. That we’re not seeing such a pattern suggests that something is fundamentally amiss. The magnets aren’t working.” NYT Upshot: What Happened to the American Boomtown?

+ “When was the last time you ran into a friend or ‘dropped by’ a friend’s house without planning it? When was the last time you had a unplanned encounter with anyone other than a clerk or a barista?” Vox: How our housing choices make adult friendships more difficult. (Full disclosure: The primary driver of my housing choices is to make unplanned encounters as unlikely as possible…)