Billy

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Good article. Florida has been hammered by critics on the left and right for a while now. It will be interesting to see how he addresses them in his upcoming book, The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent (Release Date: March 15).

I like Kotkin’s “sewer socialism” formulation, but there are many great examples of public/private partnerships that extend beyond infrastructure.

And while it’s true that many of these new city residents fit his “urban niche” profile (young, affluent, childless, etc.) our cities are just starting to bounce back after years of neglect. It’s too early to say, “Here is our one profile of the urban resident”. I was reading something recently about carless, old folks who benefit from the new condos and central-city amenities. Planetizen is a good resource for following the changing landscape..

One thing I like about New Urbanism, is that it takes some of the attractive characteristics of cities and incorporates them into expanding areas. The idea is that someday it won’t divide so neatly between Brooks’ sprawl mavericks and cliche urbanites with Volvos, and lattes. It will just be better city-building.

The truth is that right now there are different exciting things happening at once, which isn’t as provacative as heralding a single era of cities or exurbs.