This is something I've been thinking about for a while - given 10-20 years, I think we're going to see some reverse migration. Considering that Michigan currently seems quite capable of sprawling outwards even while maintaining a flat population, how will we deal with a decade in which we gain half a million people? Assuming we, in fact, deal, and don't just crumble under the weight.

Fun fact from last week's conference (that I haven't yet tracked down the citation for): a home built in a greenfield requires $60,000 to $80,000 in infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, electricity, phone, schools, police, etc). A home built as infill in an existing city neighborhood typically has infrastructure costs less that $5,000, and may easily have negative public costs by making use of existing, underused capacity. This is the standard "smart growth" fiscal line, but I'd never heard numbers attached to it before.

We also have to get more careful with our water - how can we tell other people that they can't have it if we're clearly squandering it?