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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I believe that Northern VA will become the Silicon Valley of the East.  Right now, there is so much tech investment in the area. I also think that the rest of the DMV will fine, though they will look different.   [/quote]

Zero chance. Point me to the universities that will feed it. Answer? Zero.[/quote]

Hopkins, College Park and UVA are all close enough to become major feeders for a Silicon Valley East Coast. All three are major research universities, especially the first one and Hopkins already has a sizable presence in/near DC.

As for the future of the metro area, one only needs to look at [b]Baltimore, Philadelphia and the rust belt cities to know cities absolutely can wither away[/b]. What does it mean for DC? Well, the Fed is still here and it's not going anywhere, even if it drastically downsizes. Which I do expect will happen. And it's not just the downsizing, is the elimination of funding for so many NGOs and non profits and research think tanks that will also have implications for the local housing markets. [/quote]

Not really understanding this comment.  Neither Baltimore or Philadelphia has withered away...and then you have cities like Pittsburgh that have undergone a massive renaissance over the last 30 years.[/quote]

Baltimore's population peaked at 950k in 1950 and is about 550k today, with the usual major demographic changes within the remaining 550k. It's also not the industrial powerhouse it was. Cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis, and even Philadelphia, are much smaller population-wise than they were 50 years ago and have very different economies today than in the past. Cleveland dropped from 915k in 1950 to 375k today. Pittsburgh peaked at 671k and is now down to 303k. Of course the metro areas are still much larger and even have grown but those are largely a reflection of national population growth and the emergence of a much bigger service economy that exists anywhere, feeding off population rather than true economic growth. None of these cities have the same economic presence or prestige they did in their heydays, showing you cities do wax and wane. DC's unlikely to see serious population decline, as the metro goes, but if the economic impetus from being the center of a profligate Federal government and everything that feeds off it drops sharply to a smaller version, it will absolutely impact the whole region, changing from a high value economy to a smaller/middling economy based on a smaller government + usual services.

Philadelphia is a good example to look at. It was, par for course, a much wealthier city in the late 19th century than today despite a still decent economy and regional presence. You can see it in the architecture and suburbs like the Main Line, the latter remains desirable, but it's much cheaper than the equivalents around DC. There just is not that much money in Philadelphia any more.[/quote]

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