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The Sorted Nation: A Discussion with Authors Bill Bishop and Richard Florida – Part Three

17 July 2008 - 5:00am

Planetizen talks with authors Bill Bishop and Richard Florida about how American cities and communities are increasingly attracting people with similar personality types, professional interests and voting preferences -- trends they've each documented in new books.

Bishop is author of "The Big Sort", which looks at the increasing trend of self-segregation and homogeneous voting in communities across America. Florida is the best selling author of "The Rise of the Creative Class." His new book is "Who’s Your City?", which looks at how choosing a place to live is one of the most important decisions people make, and how people are increasingly moving to places with like-minded populations. We talk with Bishop and Florida about how the trends they’re seeing are affecting cities and people.

In this final part of a three-part discussion, Bishop and Florida discuss how the trends they are seeing differ from the way cities have evolved in history, and what they mean for the future of places.

"The question is, what is the social organization that allows places to grow and to evolve. And I don't think Jane Jacobs had an answer to that. I think that's sort of the human quest. But I think the wrong way to go about it is to isolate ourselves from others and that's what is happening politically," Bishop says.

"I think that the cities that adapt are not simply dense, they're diverse. They're not only well-led, they have a wide range of opinions. They're not only well-planned, they allow newcomers to come and to try out news ideas in a relatively unencumbered way. And I think that when we get into trouble is when cities become closed systems," Florida says.

In the first part of this discussion, Bishop and Florida talk about whether the trends they've documented are good for the country, and whether cities should be encourage these trends to continue. In part two they discuss the challenges and benefits that cities see as they embrace the unique aspects that make them attractive to certain types of people.

 

Bill Bishop is a former newspaper reporter and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is currently editor of The Daily Yonder, an online news resource covering urban America. His special series on the political self-segregation of Americans for the Austin American-Statesman was the basis of much of "The Big Sort", and his collaboration with Florida. "The Big Sort" is available through Houghton Mifflin.

Richard Florida is Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto. He is also the best-selling author of "The Rise of the Creative Class" and "The Flight of the Creative Class". "Who’s Your City" is available through Basic Books.

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