We Are Living in the ‘Century of Cities’

LOS ANGELES—The trend of people moving to cities isn’t slowing down. According to Sean Burton, CEO of CityView, we are living in a “century of cities,” and that is especially evident on the West Coast. Burton spoke about the trend on the Best of Infill and “New Community” Housing and the Future of LAX panel at the 2017 USC Gould Real Estate Law and Business Forum in Downtown Los Angeles.

Today, 3.9 billion people live in cities. By comparison, 750 million people lived in cities in 1950, but the city growth is especially evident on the West Coast, according to Burton. In fact, the California is leading the nation in job growth and is growing 60% faster than the rest of the country. Los Angeles is at the epicenter of this job growth. The city has more tech jobs than any other market in the world, including Silicon Valley. This is also the place where entertainment and tech merges,” said Burton, adding that there is a diverse industry pool supplying jobs in Los Angeles.