MIAMI—Millennials and Baby Boomers want cities to focus less on recruiting new companies and more on investing in new transportation options, walkable communities, and making the area as attractive as possible. So says a new survey from the American Planning Association (APA).

Specifically, 65% of respondents believe investing in schools, transportation choices, and walkable areas is a better way to grow the economy than investing in recruiting companies to move to the area. Regardless of the city's size or location, 49% someday want to live in a walkable community. Only 7% want to live where they have to drive to most places.

“If there is a single message from this poll, it's that place matters,” says APA executive director Paul Farmer. “Community characteristics like affordability, transportation choices, safe streets, high-speed Internet, and housing that can accommodate others or enable you to live there as you grow older matter as much as job opportunities.”

Seventy-four percent of the Millennials surveyed said attracting new businesses by investing in schools, transportation options, and walkable areas is better than recruitment of companies. Meanwhile, 79% of respondents overall cited living expenses as important when deciding where to live.

“We recognize that providing people more options to get about effectively than just relying on the car will pose a host of planning and design challenges,” says APA president William Anderson. “Yet such a finding is one of the reasons we conducted this poll. As planners, it's vital that we look ahead 15 or 20 years and find ways to lessen the impact of current growth and development on tomorrow's communities.”

The study goes on to reveal that 76% of respondents said affordable and convenient transportation options other than cars is at least somewhat important when deciding where to live and work. Meanwhile, 59% of respondents said the “shared” economy, such as CarToGo or Airbnb, is at least somewhat important to them.

Where do technologically-enabled sharing services fit onto the scale? Fifty-nine percent say this is at least somewhat important to them. Beyond the specifics of high-speed internet service and the nascent “sharing” economy, the APA poll's findings suggest that technology and a culture of innovation and connectivity may be important factors for communities to attract new residents and businesses.

Finally, 75% of respondents agreed it is important for where they live to have a plan to address changing conditions and emergencies. Sixty percent also cited the importance of being able to stay in the same home as they grow older—or “age in place.” Forty-four percent of respondents were somewhat to extremely likely to move in the next five years. Fifteen of more than 300 US metro areas named most were:

• San Diego              
• New York            
• Boston
• Denver / Boulder, CO  
• San Francisco     
• Seattle             
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Portland
• Washington, DC
• Austin
• Phoenix
• Charlotte
• Atlanta         
• Miami

“Part of what makes communities healthy and attractive, is their unique character—what distinguishes them from other places,” Anderson says. “To prosper, communities need to look ahead and plan so they can build on their local strengths and embrace the opportunities changing times will present.”