Works in Progress ·For the curious
Lessons From a High-fertility Subculture
by Sonja Trauss
Published 2026-07-22 13:26:59+00:00
If a city planned for children the way it plans for cars, would its birth rate rise?
0:00 / 10:38 · Narrator Sulafat
Context
When birth rates fall, the public debate usually turns to housing costs or childcare subsidies. But in a 22 July 2026 essay for Works in Progress, Sonja Trauss approaches the issue by studying a community moving in the exact opposite direction: ultra-Orthodox Jews. The focus here is a surprisingly practical question. What happens when a culture stops treating children as a private burden that must be kept out of adult spaces? The answer suggests the sharp line secular society draws between adults and children might be the actual barrier to growing families.