We assume in an age of globalization that it doesn’t matter where you live: Technology allows us to do our jobs from home, be it on a tropical beach or in a rural community. Best-selling author and urbanologist Richard Florida disagrees.
Richard Florida suggests that the big sort poses huge implications for US economic competitiveness and a wide range of domestic economic and social issues.
A popular economic development guru believes that a region’s tolerance and diversity, its quality of life and its support for what he describes as the “creative class” pave the way for economic and population growth. According to Richard Florida: “The distinguishing characteristic of the creative class is that its members engage in work whose function is to ‘create meaningful new forms.’ “
… but not for the reasons you think. One of the few things increasing as fast as the price of oil lately has been the amount of commentary linking higher energy costs to the death of suburbia. Clearly, higher gas prices have affected where people want – or can afford – to live. Just as the demand for SUVs plummets and consumers have finally begun to see the point of hybrids, people are turning away from sprawling exurbs toward urban neighbourhoods and inner suburbs.
Florida finds that communities with large number of gays and lesbians and artists project an image of tolerance, openness and diversity which attracts creative people of all types. Where there is a large talent pool of such people, business thrives.
Bestselling author, academic, and prominent public intellectual Richard Florida talks to Joseph Planta about his latest book, Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life (Random House, 2008).
For the first time ever, says author and Toronto University’s Business and Creativity Professor Richard Florida, many of us have the freedom and economic means to choose our place — and the opportunity to find the place that fits us best is even more important than choosing a career or even a spouse.
Florida offers the premise that most people do not put nearly the same amount of effort in choosing where they want to live as they do in choosing a spouse and choosing a career, but that location seems to be more predictive of our all-round personal happiness.