Richard Florida, the man behind both “The Creative Class” and “Who’s Your City” is set to unleash his next book “The Great Reset” in April this year yet has come under a bit of fire according to a recent article by the American Prospect entitled The Ruse of the Creative Class. For the past several years, many cities have taken the advice of Florida to help attract a growing base of educated workers. Yet, in a recent article by Florida, he discussed perhaps a more somber topic:
“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. … We need to let demand for the key products and lifestyles of the old order fall, and begin building a new economy, based on a new geography”
What does this mean exactly? Well, in simple terms that while cities and regions like Silicon Valley or Boulder, Colorado continue to thrive, there is no stopping the decline of cities such as Detroit and Buffalo. Certainly, such dire news doesn’t sit well with those city administrators of such rustbelt cities and why should it? As David Lewis of the University of Albany stated
“What [Florida's argument] ignores is that [bypassed] places have sunken infrastructure — not just in roads and buildings and sewers but the stuff that matters”
Certainly, it can be argued that there is still a great deal of value in these declining communities, but if there is one thing for sure, it’s that Florida’s advice back during his ‘Creative Class’ era may be obsolete.
