Richard Florida: Who’s Your City?
I happened to catch a little of our favorite urbanist, Richard Florida, on talk of the Nation yesterday. In case anyone is interested here is the NPR link- Why ‘Where’ Is More Important than ‘Who’ or ‘What’ - this contains a link to the radio stream and some other content.
Florida’s contributions to urban planning and economic geography are undeniable, but some of his ideas about the “creative class” and mega-regions have just always rubbed me the wrong way; and I’m never exactly sure why. But listening to him yesterday finally brought into focus what bothers me the most; its this perspective that a city or region is like a economic commodity that can be “purchased” like a car – used up and thrown out when it no longer suites our needs. There is an inauthenticity in this commodification of community that brushes aside the very real, existential commitments we have to our “place” in this world. However I will backtrack a little on this today, now that I’ve listened to the whole interview.
At the beginning of the discussion Florida addresses some of the real life considerations that affect our decisions to move from place to place. He even addresses some of the attempts to bring the extended family to bear on determining the economic value of place. For what its worth, hearing him address this side of the equation gave me a better appreciation of his academic perspective.
June 21st, 2008 at 5:16 am
I couldn’t agree more. I’m glad Florida brings the issue to bear at all, but something has bothered me about his view on “place” and I think you hit the nail on the head. Where we are *is* important, but for more reasons than the “commodity value” of the place and it’s market.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
[...] favorite punching bag, Richard Florida, gets a closer listen at CNY Ecoblog. (I wonder what Florida thinks about playing the hand you were dealt…) Quote: [...]
June 30th, 2008 at 4:42 am
I’m not sure about ” its this perspective that a city or region is like a economic commodity that can be “purchased” like a car – used up and thrown out when it no longer suites our needs.”
I have to admit I have never been too much of a fun of Florida, but actually after listening to him at the googleplex (via youtube), many of his arguments convinced me.
Good blog, keep up the good job. In my blog I also talk about the debate of Florida-Kotkin, and I agree with you 100%, I think the solution is something in between.