Creative Class

Richard’s new piece Where the Brains Are in the October 2006 Atlantic Monthly is out.

From the piece,

“What matters today isn’t where most people settle, but where the greatest number of the most-skilled people does. Because the return on colocation among the ablest is so high, and because high-end incomes are rising so fast, it makes sense for these workers to continue to bid up real estate and accept other costs that traditional middle-class workers and families cannot afford. As traditional middle-class households are discplaced by smaller, higher-income households, population can decline even as economic growth continues. America’s most successful cities may incrasingly be inhabited by a core of wealthy workers leading highly priveledged lives, catered to by an underclass of service workers living in far-off suburbs.”

Enjoy the piece and let us know what you think.

(posted by David)

The 09/15/06 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education features a new piece by Richard titled ‘Regions and Universities Together Can Foster a Creative Economy’. From the article,

“In recent years, many people have wanted to make the research university more relevant to business and the economy. Advocates of a greater economic role believe that the university’s most important contributions are the transfer of research to industry, the production of commercial inventions and patents, and the creation and spinoff of start-up companies.

A growing number of universities have bought into that approach — it makes their work more economically relevant, builds closer ties to industry, and creates new sources of financial support. Unfortunately, that view not only oversells the immediately commercial functions of the university, but it also misses the university’s more far-reaching contributions to the emerging ‘creative economy’.

For their part, universities should go beyond establishing technology-transfer offices devoted to commercially relevant activity — often a small effort run out of just one part of the institution. Martin C. Jischke, president of Purdue University, has said that the research university must change its mission from the static categories of research, teaching, and service to the more-dynamic ones of discovery, learning, and engagement. While all are relevant, the last one is key: Universities must engage their surrounding communities more fully and do so through not just technology, but all three T’s.

The strength of the university has always been the ability to mobilize the talent and creative energy of all its participants — faculty members, researchers, administrators, graduate and undergraduate students. When institutions draw upon the collective creative energy of thousands of people, new ideas are generated, and new talent is created on campuses and potentially in their communities, as well.”

(posted by David)

I was cruising around the Innovation Tools Website when I found this blog entry about IBM’s new innovation services group. Apparently the group launched a blog for discussing innovation and it includes a variety of angles on innovation. The blog comes out of IBM Benelux — one of Europe’s important multi-nation mega-regions.

From a recent IBM post asking: Do you still believe your R&D department is your main source of Innovation?,

“More input from more sources from more places becomes fertile soil for new ideas. Then comes critical filtering and analysis, working toward the place where insight and true innovation can burst into the mix. This is how we can solve the most important problems in business and society. Listening is also important for tapping into outside opinion for a critique of new ideas.”

Listening to the outside has always been a challenge for societies and organizations, but IBM is right in emphasing the crucial importance of leveraging outside assets during innovation.

(posted by David)

Nancy Gilboy, the president of the Philadelphia International Visitors Council, has penned a great Op-Ed calling for Philadelphians to strive to make the city the most welcoming in the US to international visitors. From her piece,

“In today’s economy, the country that’s the most welcoming and “internationally prepared” will be the clear economic winner. But we can’t wait for the entire United States to change. In a global economy, cities can compete with countries. So let’s start right here at home.”

That sounds pretty spot on. Gilboy goes on to offer 5 specific and accessible tips that almost any city can follow in creating a more welcoming environment.

(posted by Richard)

Some friends reminded me of a great CEOs for Cities presentation from earlier this year titled Attracting the Young, Educated to Cities. It is full of data compiled by a division of Yankelovich.

Slide 6 uncovers the tools that the young, educated make use of in choosing where to live. Visiting the city for a weekend was the most popular answer. Perhaps cities should roll out the welcome mat for young singles in addition to conventions. They may gain talent for the long run, rather than just hotel taxes for a few nights.

(posted by Richard)

I’m not a big TV watcher,:-) but for some reason I’ve become a fan of FLN on cable. I was initially addicted to a show called “How Much Can You Get” which we DVR religiously. The show profiles houses at various price points in various locations across the country.

FLN is launching a new show which looks even more interesting. It’s called We Live Here. From to the network’s website,

“When you visit another city and want to know about the best places to eat, hang out, and have fun, who do you ask? You find someone who actually lives there!

FINE LIVING TV NETWORK’s new series, We Live Here, voyeuristically takes you off the beaten path in cities like Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Nashville, San Francisco, Austin and St. Louis. This get-off-your-seat travel show is hosted by Brandon Williams and people like you–people who actually live in these cities. In each episode, Brandon and the show’s local hosts take us to the bars, beaches, and restaurants only they know. We Live Here is a fun and intimate program about some great cities and everything you really want to know about them.”

The first episode is on Philadelphia (one of my favorite cities — here are some clips of the show online) and premieres on Sunday September 17th at 8PM EST. It also has an interesing blog which is asking for input on where the show should visit. Plus there are maps of Philadelpia “hot spots.”

(posted by Richard)

Via Planetizen, traffic congestion in major metros is gonna get a lot worse…

“Los Angeles, home to the nation’s worst traffic today, will continue to have the longest delays, with trips during peak hours taking nearly twice as long as they do when roads are free-flowing. But LA won’t be alone. Several cities face the dubious honor of having Los Angeles-like gridlock.

By 2030, drivers in 11 metro areas – Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma, and Washington, D.C. – will be stuck in daily traffic jams that are as bad as or worse than today’s infamous bottlenecks in Los Angeles, according to a new Reason Foundation study. In those cities it will take at least 75 percent longer to make a trip during peak hours than off-peak periods. So, for example, a trip that is supposed to take 30 minutes would take over 52 minutes.”

(posted by Richard)

With rising fuel costs and increasing congestion, public transport makes sense for more and more people in growing metros and citi-regions.

Over at The Cool Hunter the editors have offered up their picks for best global subway stations. Billy T blogs, “Here’s our pick of some of the best: For individuality Hong Kong’s Airport Line, London’s Jubilee Line extension and Tokyo’s Oedo Line. Munich, Zurich and Prague have some great interiors, while Moscow and Saint Petersburg are also standouts. For art we love Brussels, Montreal and Stockholm.”

(posted by David)

Found a really interesting entry at Virginia Postrel’s blog about the role of state universities in growing/improving the talent of a state’s economy. She links to a USA Today piece by Beth Marklein explaining that state university budgets are eased by out-of-state tuition, yet state residents see rising non-resident matriculation as betrayal. Clearly talent, tolerance, and tuition do not always peacefully co-exist at the state level.

From the USA Today,

“The concern that out-of-staters might be displacing in-state students is being voiced elsewhere, from Florida to Wisconsin to Hawaii, as more students cross state lines to attend public universities.

In May, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, pulled the plug on plans to increase its proportion of out-of-state enrollment from the current 10% to 15% of the freshman class because the reaction was so negative.

The University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of North Carolina system regularly lock horns with lawmakers over out-of-state enrollment caps. The schools want the caps higher, the lawmakers don’t.

In South Carolina, legislators this year introduced a bill to limit to 20% the proportion of out-of-state first-year students enrolled at the flagship campus in Columbia. The bill died, but the sentiment hasn’t.”

(posted by a non-resident graduate of the University of Michigan)

Via Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolution blog — a great world map of globalization — McDonalds and Starbucks. (click image for clearer image in separate browser)

(posted by Richard)