Joel Kotkin

Senior Research Fellow
Research Areas
Demographics
Political implications of demographic changes
Urban Issues and Housing

Biography

Joel Kotkin is a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute. He is also the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University where he directs the University’s Center for Demographics and Policy. He is also executive editor of the widely read website NewGeography.com. His columns appear regularly in Spiked (U.K.), the National Post in Canada, the American Mind, UnHerd, Quillette, the Los Angeles Times, National Review, City Journal, The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator among other national publications.

Kotkin is the author of many books, including The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class (Encounter Books, 2020); The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us (Agate B2, 2016); and The New Class Conflict (Telos Press Publishing, 2014), which describes the changing dynamics of class in America. He is the co-editor of The Future of Cities (American Enterprise Institute, 2022) which he co-edited with Ryan Streeter, executive director of the Civitas Institute; and Infinite Suburbia (Princeton Architectural Press, 2017) which he co-edited with MIT’s Alan Berger. Kotkin attended the University of California, Berkeley.

Awards
Josh Blackman holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law at South Texas College of Law and is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. He has authored three books, and his latest, An Introduction to Constitutional Law, was a top five bestseller on Amazon. He is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook.
Recent contributions

The Dangers of the Political Gender Gap

Politics
Apr 24, 2025

Can Democrats Exploit Trump’s Tariff Chaos?

Politics
Apr 16, 2025

‘American Oasis’ Review: The Lure of the Desert

Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 9, 2025
Latest from

Joel Kotkin

No items found.
Show more

The Dangers of the Political Gender Gap

Politics
Apr 24, 2025

Can Democrats Exploit Trump’s Tariff Chaos?

Politics
Apr 16, 2025

‘American Oasis’ Review: The Lure of the Desert

Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 9, 2025

Are the Democrats Drifting Further Left?

Politics
Apr 5, 2025

California’s Population Bump Won’t Make Up for Its Long Term Slide

Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 1, 2025

Ignore the Bluster – Donald Trump Is Not an Imperialist

Politics
Mar 28, 2025

Does Gavin Newsom Believe in Anything?

Politics
Mar 26, 2025

The Climate Has Changed on Climate Change

Politics
Mar 13, 2025

How Federal Lands Can Be Used to Ease the Housing Crisis

Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 10, 2025

In Southern L.A., These Cities Are Making a Comeback

Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 6, 2025

Jewish Geography

Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 4, 2025

The Democrats’ Coming Civil War

Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Tech Bros Have Stolen Austin’s Soul

Pursuit of Happiness
Feb 28, 2025

DOGE Is Waging a Class War on America’s New Clerisy

Politics
Feb 27, 2025

California’s Housing Problems Require a Better Solution than Densify, Densify, Densify

Pursuit of Happiness
Feb 18, 2025

Why Jews Are Fleeing the West

Pursuit of Happiness
Feb 12, 2025

‘America First’ Can’t Be ‘America Alone'

Politics
Feb 4, 2025

These Mayors Understand How to Run a City

Economic Dynamism
Jan 24, 2025

Why Europe and America Need Each Other

Politics
Jan 3, 2025

Elon Musk and the Rise of the Alt-Oligarchy

Politics
Dec 21, 2024

The Lone Star State Is Soaring

Pursuit of Happiness
Dec 19, 2024

The Return of Realpolitik

Politics
Dec 2, 2024

DEI Is Dead. The Establishment Media Just Doesn’t Want You to Know It

Politics
Nov 29, 2024

Trump’s Assault on DEI Will Bring Us Closer to a Post-racial America

Politics
Jan 30, 2024

Europe Faces Green Energy Immiseration. Trump Is About to Offer It a Lifeline

Economic Dynamism
Jan 17, 2024

LA’s Dreams Went Up in Flames

Politics
Jan 10, 2024

The LA Fires Are the Horrifying Consequence of Democratic Misrule

Politics
Dec 14, 2023

The American University Is Rotting from Within

Politics
Dec 12, 2022
Show more

Populism Unpacked: Voices from the Heartland

Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 4, 2025
40:16
Show more
No items found.
Show more
No items found.
Show more
No items found.
Show more
No items found.
No items found.
No items found.
No items found.
Who we are

We are a community of scholars exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.

Independent thought, civil discourse, reasoned deliberation and intellectual curiosity are central to the Civitas ethos.

Learn more