Despite some good signs, it is too soon to come up with a final assessment of cities’ potential for revival. But as the pandemic recedes, as younger generations make decisions about where to locate, and as immigration continues to rise, there are reasons to be more optimistic about cities’ demographic futures, writes William Frey.

Can we strike a balance between protecting the privacy of individuals and gathering valuable information to implement effective solutions? Jack Gisby and co-authors argue that synthetic populations—created with a combination of microdata and summary statistics—can give us the granularity we need to support targeted interventions, maintain privacy, and open up new opportunities beyond traditional poverty research.