I think society is actually fairly transient these days anyway, due to economic reality. Most people don’t stay in jobs (or one location) much more than 5 years now.

I think the promotion of mass transit is huge, and something we need to see more cities in the U.S. work on developing.

Here’s my concern, particularly about a shift to a rental market, or an ideal where cities are as disposable as anything we consume in an increasingly consumerized world.

With a super-flexible or “transient” population, as many of our most “open to experience” cities with high ratings on the “Bohemian-Gay” index seem to show, the question is can relationships morph strongly between individuals in a highly competitive, globalized market of cities?

I have no quantitative data to support this, but I have experienced this phenomenon in NYC, where we can see the highly transient “consciousness” of many residents (usually young) who are not planning, necessarily, to remain in NY long term affects their attitude towards engaging in any serious relationship, friendly or otherwise.

If our entire society becomes encouraged to be as “transient” as NYC as a result of the demands of survival in such a world, will we still feel a lack of ability to truly develop relationships if we always believe the most “open to experience”-like individuals or converts, will never feel strongly connected to the place they live?