“Today’s urban rentiers have more to gain from increasing the scarcity of usable land than from maximizing its productive and economically beneficial uses,” writes Florida, also noting that over a 50-year period, over half of New York City’s economic output was consumed by artificially high housing costs, to the benefit of what Adam Smith might have called “indolent” landlords (themselves often corporations, REITs and other wealth funds).
There has been a buzz in the past few weeks regarding a new book by the urban-studies theorist Richard Florida, the “New Urban Crisis.” Remember, Mr. Florida? He’s the one who extolled places such as Boston and Austin as the hope for America’s economy. In his previous seminal work, “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Florida had this to say about Boulder: “Boulder has reached this beautiful sweet spot, where it has many advantages of a university town — tech and talent and openness — but without many of the costs and traffic and congestion that may disadvantage incumbent centers of innovation.”
When I was in college and first became politically aware, so to speak, was in the ’80s when Ronald Reagan was president. Many people from that era remember that perhaps the principal economic theory driving his election in 1980 was the theory of supply side economcs, or that lower barriers on
On April 11, Senior Resident Fellow Tom Murphy, former Mayor of Pittsburgh, participated in an event called Union Market Talks at Union Market’s Dock 5. The Talk was an opportunity to talk about inclusive prosperity in an open forum, and included a presentation from Richard Florida to celebrate the launch of his new book, The New Urban Crisis.
Since publishing the best-selling book “The Rise of the Creative Class” in 2002, Florida has used his considerable speaking and writing heft to push mayors, urban planners and company executives to cater to tech-savvy young professionals.
Decades ago, one of the biggest challenges facing cities was the loss of residents brought on by the devastating effects of deindustrialization. As urban residents began flocking to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s, cities were confronted with rising levels of poverty, crime, and housing decay. While many of these issues still linger, our modern urban crisis is more extensive and encompassing than its predecessor. As cities continue to benefit from the return of wealthy, talented residents, they now face a number of challenges borne out of their very success. Where cities once benefited from sturdy middle-class neighborhoods, today’s urban areas are up against a disappearing middle class, as well as rampant gentrification and economic and racial segregation.
Lesson #2: Superstar cities
Toronto is tied with Stockholm for 10th on the list of superstar cities compiled by the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, where Florida is Director of Cities (New York, London and Tokyo are the top three). These cities benefit from the clustering effect of individual talent, firms and industries (especially tech).
When Richard Florida coined the term “creative class” in 2002, he painted a very clear picture for urban revitalization. His book The Rise Of The Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community And Everyday Life, almost reads like a textbook for mayors. All cities had to do was lure a few artists into live-work lofts in an old warehouse district, maybe convince a startup—they weren’t even called startups then, were they?—to set up shop in a post-industrial neighborhood. Voila! Florida’s prescription for city success.
Lesson #1: What is the “new urban crisis”?
The University of Toronto’s urban theorist Richard Florida is best known to many for his 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class, which predicted future economic growth as the result of creativity and innovation rather than raw materials and industrial models of the past.
