Interview with Conor Clarke, urban theorist Richard Florida explains why recession is the mother of invention. Which cities will rise and fall with investment banks and the housing market? Which regions will thrive, and which will start to look like latter-day Dust Bowls?
Richard Florida presents a potent argument for why a few cities are emerging as extremely successful economic powerhouses, while most are in decline. Florida argues that we are now able to choose a place to live from cities around the country and all one needs to do is match a city’s personality and social possibilities with our individual needs and preferences also arguing that these needs can change with
different stages — early career, raising a family and retirement — of life.
Florida is a leading advocate of developing culturally vibrant communities, saying they attract the ‘creative classes,’ leading to economic growth by building a city where people want to live, play, work and invest. This would be a refreshing direction, one that could add charm and creativity to downtown Barrie, fostering a ‘sense of place.’
Richard Florida, has urged President-elect Barack Obama to eschew crude investments in traditional production and a renewed housing market in favor of goodies directed to what he calls the creative industry.
President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to strengthen the federal commitment to our cities and it’s importance is seen with his creation of a new position, the White House Office of Urban Policy. Along these lines is Richard Florida’s view that the concept of the creative class of workers is a key element of metropolitan stability and progress.
New Brunswick’s Frye Festival has given residents and visitors to the province a plethora of special events year round helping to make it the type of “creative” city Richard Florida talks about.
Venture Capital, Technological Change, and
Industrial Development by Richard Florida and Martin Kenney.
University-Industry Research Centers, Federal Science Policy and the Research University by Richard Florida, Wesley Cohen and Lucien Randazzese.
Richard Florida, author of “Who’s Your City?” and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, sees the gravitational pull away from Wall Street and toward more creative industries as part of a necessary economic recalibration.
