FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE NEW URBAN CRISIS

The University of Toronto’s urban theorist Richard Florida is best known for his 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class, which predicted future economic growth as the result of creativity and innovation rather than raw materials and industrial models of the past. While Florida has faced criticism for his somewhat utopian perspective (and the new millennium has indeed brought its own reality check), the author has been more than willing to revisit the topic. His new book, The New Urban Crisis, attempts to reconcile many of these issues with his original ideas. Here are your takeaways:

1

Florida describes the “new urban crisis” as different in character from the urban crisis of the 1960s and 1970s, which was marked by a decline in the core industries of urban centres and degradation of their tax base – and resulting increase of most negative socioeconomic indexes ( crime, poverty, drug abuse, infant mortality). In many ways, the new crisis is a victim of the new urbanism’s own success, and according to Florida, it has five major dimensions: 1) the economic gap between “superstar cities” and the rest, 2) unaffordable housing prices, 3) growing inequality and segregation within all cities, 4) the replication of former urban problems in the suburbs, 5) the rapid urbanization of the developing world, which is not taking place along the same lines of economic growth as in the past.

2

Toronto is tied with Stockholm for 10th on the list of superstar cities compiled by the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, where Florida is Director of Cities. ( New York, London and Tokyo are the top three). These cities benefit from the clustering effect of individual talent, firms and industries (especially tech). A study by the Sante Fe Institute think tank also shows that each doubling of a city’s population makes its residents 15 per cent more productive. Which sounds great until you realize that you’re going to have to be 5000 per cent in order to afford to live there (my statistic: to be confirmed).

3

Despite the positives derived from the economic scaling- up of superstar cities, these same factors promote inequality, as economically displaced citizens lose access to those very job prospects, urban amenities and mobility. “Gentrification,” according to Florida, “is the manifestation of America’s new class geography.” Large cities and metro areas, he notes, can be both increasingly diverse and increasingly segregated at the same time ( despite often being more liberal) – a reality that compounds across generations as younger families increasingly need access to existing capital from “the bank of mom and dad” to buy into neighbourhoods with better schools and socioeconomic opportunities.

4

NIMBYism and “rentier” or rent-seeking behaviour poses a special challenge to cities. “Today’s urban rentiers have more to gain from increasing the scarcity of usable land than from maximizing its productive and economically beneficial uses,” writes Florida, also noting that over a 50- year period, over half of New York City’s economic output was consumed by artificially high housing costs, to the benefit of what Adam Smith might have called “indolent” landlords ( themselves often corporations, REITs and other wealth funds). Meanwhile, if everyone who wanted to work in San Francisco could afford to live there, the city would see a 500 per cent increase in jobs. But hey, all you need is a ( new) laptop and WiFi, and you can work anywhere, right?

5

Ironically, the re- urbanization of cities has had the effect of making them more suburban in character, writes Florida. He may be onto something: think of how often Manhattan is now described as an outdoor mall. Despite the cliché of shoebox condos, Florida reveals that the square footage used by urban individuals and families is now comparable to that used by suburban ones, with many suburban amenities available on- site. Thankfully, many chains are choosing to hide their outlets behind phony indie frontages – we can’t have cousin Phil from Peterborough thinking we go to the same coffee shop. Why pay all that rent otherwise?