UK plans massive internal expansion

[AndyDT]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/hands-off-our-land/9165205/Countryside-planning-revolution-new-city-proposed-for-Midlands.html

New cities, high-speed rail, new privatised road network and airports. I can see the purpose but find myself being drawn towards eco-arguments as time goes on: if we're going to expand to keep up with other countries then we should at least do it in harmony with nature (regardless of whether they do, we should lead).

[Rathma]

Lol new city. Regulate the old City first, pls.

[rumborak]

Why is the UK population expected to rise that much? Immigration?

rumborak

[AndyDT]

Mainly birth rates from new immigrants as I understand it but non-immigrant birth rates have risen in the past 2-3 years as well.

[snapple]

They haven't run out of room yet?

[Riceball]

Birth rates have been rising everywhere in the developed world recently.

Deep recessions = baby booms. Happened in the 30s, 50s and 80s - while in the 20s, 60s, 90s and 00s birth rates fell (going by memory here). Looks like the pattern continues...

Re the policy: should have been the policy response from the UK Government from the get go (I'm talking financial crisis response), rather than this austerity bullshit which is so obviously self-perpetuating and self-defeating that its made things worse. However I note its all well and good to build a city from the ground up, but what are you going to do about jobs, infrastructure and the like around it?

[Scheavo]

Deep recessions = baby booms. Happened in the 30s, 50s and 80s - while in the 20s, 60s, 90s and 00s birth rates fell (going by memory here). Looks like the pattern continues...

I can only imagine this is due to evolution, becuase this is just irrational in today's world.

[Riceball]

I'd say so. I mean, when I'm considering whether to have some little Riceballs I'm not thinking of the environment...I'd say most are the same.

[Super Dude]

I'd say so. I mean, when I'm considering whether to have some little Riceballs I'm not thinking of the environment...I'd say most are the same.

Something about that phrase...

Relevant contribution: I never noticed that trend before, Riceball. That means bad news bears for the 2020s and 30s, imo. And I'm not just talking environment.

[Scheavo]

I'd say so. I mean, when I'm considering whether to have some little Riceballs I'm not thinking of the environment...I'd say most are the same.

Well, if you were, you wouldn't be adding more kids at a time when you can barely make do. It makes sense if you can make your 5 year old go farm and do some work, but when it's just another mouth to feed on an insufficient salary, it just doesn't work.

[jsem]

Birth rates have been rising everywhere in the developed world recently.

Deep recessions = baby booms. Happened in the 30s, 50s and 80s - while in the 20s, 60s, 90s and 00s birth rates fell (going by memory here). Looks like the pattern continues...

Actually, what you see during booms are higher birth rates. And the opposite during recessions - decreasing birth rates. At least in the US this has been the case always.

For instance, the baby-boomers were born when the Depression had finally ended, and the stock market recovered in the late 40s. They weren't born DURING an economic downturn.

https://www.livescience.com/16513-birthrates-decline-poor-economy.html
https://pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/753-birth-rates-recession.pdf

But whatever, this is just one factor among many. There's also a paradox in this, because the more developed countries generally have lower birth rates than less developed countries.

[Scheavo]

And that makes more sense to me.

Also, as for the baby-boomers, that wasn't just the end of a depression, but the coming-home of hundreds of thousands of married men.

[Dr. DTVT]

They need to get ED-209's in there to clean out the crime before they start building Delta City.