Why are Americans becoming less nomadic? Greater labor mobility helps the economy, but are there other kinds of effects — negative or positive — related to a more rooted population? Is there an upside to more Americans staying closer to their hometowns?
Richard Florida's take on "How Cities Renew" in relation to his recent trip to Abu Dhabi, his observations on the city and its people.
The concentration of bohemians and gays consistently have a staggering impact on housing values.
Today a highly significant demographic realignment is at work: the mass relocation of highly skilled, highly educated, and highly paid people to a relatively small number of metropolitan regions, and corresponding exodus of traditional lower- and middle-class people from those same places.
Richard Florida on how members of Generation Y are picking their new hometowns as they graduate from college and enter the workforce during a recession.
Will Wilkinson, a research fellow at Washington's Cato Institute wrote this terrific essay on Toronto's largely successful experiment in immigration – its global-straddling ethnic mosaic.
Richard Florida's research on mega-regions provides a potentially useful framework for thinking about where and how to invest in a national high-speed rail system.
Homeownership has been a central tenet of a ‘richer and fuller life’ in the USA, but foreclosures are severely testing this model. A possible solution: Rent these homes as a first step toward a more affordable, flexible housing system.
The crash of 2008 continues to reverberate loudly nationwide-destroying jobs, bankrupting businesses, and displacing homeowners. But already, it has damaged some places much more severly than others. On the other side of the crisis, American's economic landscape will look very different than it does doay. What fate will the coming years hold for New York, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas? Will the suburbs be ineffably changed? Which cities and regions can come back strong? And which will never come back at all?
Less than a month after taking office, the Obama administration unveiled its massive stimulus package aimed at recharging the lagging American economy - a staggering three-quarters of a trillion dollars. As the Harper administration rushes to dole out a $40-billion stimulus of its own, it's high time to ask a simple question: Are we stimulating the right things?
As part of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, Richard Florida and Roger Martin delivered a report called "Ontario in the Creative Age," commissioned by Premier Dalton McGuinty contemplating today's challenge of moving from jobs oriented to routine to jobs that hinge on creativity.
Richard Florida visits Russia this month and discusses the country's push to develop more of a market-based economy, having abandoned its state-run economy to the historical dustbin as well as drawing upon the similarities between the youth of both Russia and the U.S.
Restarting economic growth this time around will require a new social and economic framework that is in line with the new idea-driven economy.
Richard Florida and James Milay explore the the effects if a recession hits Canada suggesting that the continuing shift in Canada's economy from traditional blue-collar, working-class jobs to creative and service jobs will dampen the effects of job losses over all, but those in the working class will feel the pain much more.
Richard Florida warns of an extended period of volatility and conflict in American politics.
Richard Florida's take on Montreal and it's position amidst the current economic storm.
Richard Florida on the financial crisis.
Florida’s public policy-makers must recognize that mega-regions are the engines of the newglobal economy. They must support Florida’s mega — the 15th largest in the world.
Richard Florida suggests that the big sort poses huge implications for US economic competitiveness and a wide range of domestic economic and social issues.
... 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.
What matters now is quality of place, defined as the intersection of three key elements of our cities: what's there, who's there and what's going on.
A mega-region needs to think and act like a mega-region, not like a bunch of separate cities with empty space between them.
Fareed Zakaria: The end result will be a “landscape that is quite different from the one we have lived in until now – one defined and directed from many places and by many peoples.”
"...we are experiencing modern history’s third great power shift, after the rise of the West from the 15th century on and then the rise of the U.S. in the 19th century."
WE ARE ALL familiar with the rough geography of the United States — the slash of the Rocky Mountains between two great coastlines, the bulge of Maine, the Florida peninsula, the Great Lakes, set in the heartland. But what about the country’s psychogeography?
WE ARE ALL familiar with the rough geography of the United States - the slash of the Rocky Mountains between two great coastlines, the bulge of Maine, the Florida peninsula, the Great Lakes, set in the heartland. But what about the country's psychogeography?
"The diversity, of whatever kind, that is generated by cities rests on the fact that in cities so many people are so close together, and among them contain so many different tastes, skills, needs, supplies, and bees in their bonnets."
Over the past decade or so, greater Portland has developed a well-deserved reputation as one of the nation's very best places to live.
When people talk about economic competitiveness, the focus tends to be on nation states. In the 1980s, many were obsessed with the rise of Japan. Today, our gaze has shifted to the phenomenal growth of Brazil, Russia, India and China. But this focus on nations is off the mark.
"The party that can bring together the working class and the creative class is likely to build a lasting majority"
WHICH OF THESE two decisions do you think has a bigger impact on someone’s life: finding the right job, or finding the right significant other? No one’s going to argue with the notion that where you live affects your employment prospects. But the place you call home has a lot to do with your chances of finding the right partner as well. Having an enticing “mating market” matters as much or more than a vibrant labor market.
From where I sit, Philadelphia's future looks very bright. Trust me: I know all about the issues that confront the city. I grew up in New Jersey, went to Rutgers, and spent much of my teens and 20s hanging out in Center City. I've seen the dark days and watched the recovery.
For the past two weeks, all eyes have focused on Barack Obama and race. A couple of weeks ago, it was Hillary Clinton's gender. A month before that, it was all about the Obama surge among young voters.
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
For decades we've heard that new transport and communication technologies - from the street car to the Internet - would make geography and place irrelevant...
The Globe and Mail
The most overlooked — but most important — element of my theory and of the creative economy itself is that every human being is creative.
The Globe and Mail
This is the first in a series of articles in which The Globe and Mail visits an iconic Toronto neighbourhood or event with Richard Florida.
Richard Florida on his adopted city's central role in a new world order built not around nations but around mega-regions.
