Copy As long as cities have been around, there’s been one pressing question central to their future: “What makes urban areas desirable?” Over half of the world’s inhabitants live in cities and that number is projected to climb over the next decade with more than 5 billion people inhabiting urban cores globally. To prepare for this demand, cities are finding ways to be more desirable, draw in talent, and entice both big and small businesses, all while finding more ways to create equitable living opportunities for all. Cities are also facing a new problem- the migration of inhabitants who are heading to the suburbs by the droves since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a recognition that our highly interconnected and technologically advanced world allows many of us to do our jobs from anywhere, people are reconsidering city life and moving away from their compact quality of life that comes with a large price tag. More recently, major companies in the tech industry have announced that they will move some of their US-based operations out of the severely overpriced Silicon Valley in favor of up-and-coming Austin, Texas. The financial services industry has followed suit, stating that some of their jobs will be relocated away from New York City to Miami, Florida. Both Miami and Austin have two major policy factors in common- neither have income taxes. This even further begs the question of what qualities of booming urban centers make some more desirable, and others less so both in terms of public policy and ability to implement designs that plan for urban growth while also maintaining a sense of self-identity.