Richard Florida and The Great Reset

The Urbanophile reviews Richard Florida's new book, defending his populist approach and tackling Florida's central arguments of investing in the grassroots, encouraging "rentership" and the fundamental societal changes coming soon.

1 minute read

May 10, 2010, 2:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Florida's new book, The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity, argues that the recent economic crisis has sped up a process already in motion that will fundamentally change the way we live. Aaron M. Renn (The Urbanophile) agrees with Florida's conclusion on how we can weather the transition:

"Florida's recipe for cities is to favor grass roots change over big, top down redevelopment initiatives like stadiums, and investing in quality of life and place making. But he, like Glaeser, says that the primary focus of investments ought to be people, not places. This isn't a matter of writing off cities or not writing off cities, but rather a political or philosophical question about where the focus of our investments ought to be. I don't think it is either/or and neither does Florida, but you've got to make some choice as there aren't unlimited funds. Where do you give the priority?"

Renn also gives a rebuttal to recent criticism of Florida, particularly Alec McGillis' biting critique The Ruse of the Creative Class.

Monday, May 10, 2010 in The Urbanophile

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