Can Ailing Cities Attract the Creative Class?

In a scathing critique of Richard Florida, reporter Alec MacGillis claims that Florida's creative class strategies haven't worked for ailing cities around the country. Florida counters that the recession has changed the landscape.

1 minute read

January 4, 2010, 1:00 PM PST

By Tim Halbur


MacGillis writes, "In a warm-up to his next book -- The Great Reset, due out in April -- Florida has been arguing that the recession has so decimated many cities and regions that it's time for the country to cut its losses and instead encourage growth in places that are prospering, like Silicon Valley, Boulder, Austin, and North Carolina's Research Triangle. And the rest? In his much-cited cover story in the March issue of The Atlantic -- "How the Crash Will Reshape America" -- he delivered the harsh news: "We need to be clear that ultimately, we can't stop the decline of some places, and that we would be foolish to try. ... Different eras favor different places, along with the industries and lifestyles those places embody. ..."

Monday, January 4, 2010 in The American Prospect

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