Monthly Archives

September 2017

The New Urban Crisis Press

Forbes : Is The American Urban Revival Over?

Florida has become quite concerned that the winners of the urban revival over the last 15-20 years — cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston and Washington — have become victims of their own success as they’ve become high-priced meccas specifically tailored to the needs and wishes of the creative class.

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September 27, 2017
CitiesOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida ColumnsThe New Urban Crisis Press

Crains New York Business : How to grow New York and other cities—while reducing inequality

As the world’s most economically powerful financial center and a budding hub for high-tech industry, New York City has grown increasingly segregated and unequal—particularly in areas surrounding new development. Now more than ever, the city has become a contested ground for space, spurring a local backlash among community members who can no longer afford to live where they are. With the current presidential administration and Republican majority on Capitol Hill unlikely to lend their support, New York must now turn to its local leaders, communities, and anchor institutions—universities, medical centers, real estate developers and large corporations—to mitigate this new urban crisis.

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September 26, 2017
Rana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: City

The Huffington Post : City Leaders Cower to Pressure to Remove a Stop Sign – Residents in a Fury

n July 2017, in response to a formal request from the North Rosedale Residents’ Association, the city of Toronto placed two new stop signs at the intersections of Glen Road and Roxborough Drive and Glen Road and Binscarth Road. A month after the signs were installed, the residents’ association requested that they be taken down.

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September 21, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRana Florida Columns: WorkRichard Florida Columns

Toronto Star: Building six million good jobs in Canada

Today, more than six million Canadians — 40 per cent of Canada’s workers — toil in low-paying routine service jobs, preparing and serving our food, waiting on us in stores and retail shops, doing office work, and providing a wide range of personal and health care service, from cutting our hair and giving us massages, to taking care of our kids and aging parents.

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September 20, 2017
Opinion Editorials

The Star: Building six million good jobs in Canada

Today, more than six million Canadians — 40 per cent of Canada’s workers — toil in low-paying routine service jobs, preparing and serving our food, waiting on us in stores and retail shops, doing office work, and providing a wide range of personal and health care service, from cutting our hair and giving us massages, to taking care of our kids and aging parents.

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September 20, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

New York Daily News: Stop giving away the store, N.Y.: Aetna shouldn’t get big tax breaks to come to Manhattan

Last June, Aetna announced that it was moving its headquarters from Hartford, Conn., where it has been located since 1853, to the Meatpacking District in New York City. New York, Aetna’s CEO Mark Bertolini told The New York Times, offers “the ecosystem of having people in the knowledge economy, working in a town they want to be living in, and we want to attract those folks, and we want to have them on our team. It’s very hard to recruit people like that to Hartford.”

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September 20, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

NewCo Shift: Can Business and New Federalism Save Our Cities?

Richard Florida is an academic, author, and leading voice on all things urban studies. His Rise of the Creative Class, first published in 2002, predicted a resurgence in city centers due to a new class of creative “knowledge workers.” His insights helped to catalyze scores of major city redevelopment efforts. Hailed as a far-reaching seer for predicting the tech and arts-driven boom in American cities, Florida’s work has recently been called into question for the unexpected consequences of urban renewal, in particular gentrification and its attendant income inequality, which has pushed lower income and diverse populations from cities throughout the United States.

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September 20, 2017
Richard Florida Columns

Houston Chronical: Florida, Rose: Post-Harvey, the city must reset its development trajectory

There is little doubt that the Greater Houston area will rebound and rebuild after Harvey. This has long been one of the world’s fastest-growing and most vibrant regions, with a population fast approaching 7 million and projected to pass 11 million by 2050. With an economic output of nearly $500 billion, Houston’s economy would place it among the 25 wealthiest nations in the world. It’s a center of high-tech energy production and medical research.

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September 8, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

The Berkshire Eagle: Leonard Quart: Letter From New York|:Maintaining equality while reviving cities

NEW YORK — In his 2002 book “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida argued that in order to save themselves from post-industrial ruin, cities needed to attract the best young talent in computer programming, finance, media and the arts. Some cities followed his prescription and made themselves more vibrant by creating more walkable, pedestrian-friendly streets, caf and restaurant areas that acted as lively gathering places, refurbished parks, and art and music scenes. Those cities became magnets for what Florida called the “creative class,” but the consequences as Florida soon discovered were complex and not all of them worth cheering.

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September 5, 2017
Files / Working Papers

MPI BUILDING 65 MILLION GOOD JOBS The Geography of Low-Paid Service Class Jobs and How to Begin to Upgrade Them

This report takes a deep dive into America’s Service Class. The
Service Class includes 65 million workers who toil in precarious,
low-skill, low-pay jobs in fields like Food Preparation and Service, Retail Trade, Personal Care, and Clerical and Administrative positions.
Our research outlines the dramatic growth of the Service Class,
documents the low wages paid to Service Class workers, and charts
the large share of women and minorities that make up Service
Class workers.

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September 5, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The New York Times : The Urban Revival Is Over

For all the concern about the gentrification, rising housing prices and the growing gap between the rich and poor in our leading cities, an even bigger threat lies on the horizon: The urban revival that swept across America over the past decade or two may be in danger. As it turns out, the much-ballyhooed new age of the city might be giving way to a great urban stall-out.

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September 1, 2017