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Richard Florida Is a University Professor and Director of Cities At Richard Florida is a University Professor and Director of Cities at the University of Toronto, and a Distinguished Fellow at the New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate. 5 interview INTERVIEW Richard Florida Making Inclusion the Agenda rbanist Richard Florida popularised the idea that the creativity Ueconomy spurs urban regeneration with his 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class. Fifteen years later, creative cities have revived but are plagued with inequality. He tells Dinesh Naidu about his new book, The New Urban Crisis, and how cities can spread the benefits for inclusive urbanism. How does your latest book, The New Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Los Angeles Urban Crisis, describe how cities should and San Francisco have attracted more approach urban rejuvenation compared and more talent from their own nations to your previous book? and the world. But cities elsewhere are struggling. Winner-takes-all urbanism is The Rise of the Creative Class was written in fractal—it occurs at every scale, between the late 1990s when cities were still down. cities across the world and even within the 2018 ISSUE 12 • JAN I was very interested in the movement winner cities. of the creative class—the scientists, entrepreneurs, business professionals, The benefits of this urban revival have management professionals, knowledge been very uneven. The creative class has workers and creatives—back to the city. done very well. But falling further and I believed, and still do, that urban revival further behind is the old, blue-collar is a good thing. manufacturing class, in particular the lower-wage service workers who are 45% But what has happened is that a back-to- of the American workforce. We have to the-city movement has accelerated and make sure to spread the benefits. It’s time brought with it new and powerful divides. to move from winner-takes-all urbanism I call this “winner-takes-all urbanism” . to urbanism for all, which is fairer and Superstar cities like London, Singapore, more inclusive. How can cities address this canyons and vertical suburbs. We want to winner-takes-all urbanism? maintain our historic neighbourhoods and buildings, which are in such short I’ve learnt that there isn’t going to be a supply. It is not simply physical density lot of federal help. Cities have to go at that matters but the activation of street it alone. That’s a big shift because some life in the clash and clamour out in the people expect a national strategy. But streets. That’s also an important part of increasingly around the world, certainly what cities do. in the West, you’re going to see very little of it. We have to recommit to building affordable workforce housing. This Over the last 10 to 15 years, urban experts obligation is not just on the public sector, like Michael Porter, Bruce Katz, Edward university-based anchor organisations, Glaeser and myself have argued that cities medical centres and real estate developers. have to work on their economic clusters, Tech companies should also help. If talent, quality of place and creativity. Amazon is the largest employer in Seattle We gave them tools—cluster analysis, and if Google is building megaplexes in occupational cluster analysis, vibrancy London, they should do their share. analysis—to do that. The next phase has to be making people aware of the need We also need transit. The United States for inclusion, developing a compelling and Canada have especially fallen behind narrative to connect equity to economic here. We need to connect suburbs to development, as well as developing urban areas with high-speed rail to the tools and techniques for more increase the functional labour markets inclusionary urban development. These and the functional talent markets. That’s are what my team and I are doing now. just a no-brainer. What are some of the specific ideas and Most importantly, there needs to be a actions for cities to address this need massive effort to upgrade service jobs. The for inclusion? fundamental problem in today’s capitalism is the divide between high-wage knowledge Economic development and equity, workers and low-wage service workers, with growth and re-distribution are all part the manufacturing middle falling apart. of the same thing. Now, with this great We’ve to make service jobs higher paying. inequality and segregation, we have to We need higher minimum wages and a make inclusion part of the economic bigger wage floor. The most successful development agenda. service companies with higher productivity and profits are the ones that pay workers Everyone wants to cram themselves into more and involve them in work teams, lean the city. We need to build more and taller, strategies, quality improvement, customer especially where land is scarce. But we service improvement and innovative use of don’t want to create just condominium their space. 01 Interesting streetscapes, such as the pedestrianised Times Square in New York City, help to keep streets alive. 7 interview It is not simply physical density that matters but the activation of street life in the clash and “clamour out in the streets. ” 01 How do you tell the difference between Too many urban economists good and bad density? are saying the answer is more The late urbanist Jane Jacobs said it best: density... It’s density plus. “Density in the absence of a pedestrian scale can be a very dangerous thing.” The Design really matters too. streetscape has to be attractive and offer an incentive for people to get out and about. I “You can make that flexible and say to the worry about neighbourhoods in Manhattan companies: “You could do affordable housing filled with empty towers that people don’t live or workforce upgrading. But if you don’t do in. When a neighbourhood gets deadened like anything, you just pay more taxes. We will that, the creative and innovative impetus just not allow you to just develop luxury towers” moves away. or a high-tech innovation district for the wealthy and the skilled. You have to give Neighbourhoods in very scarce supply are something back to the city. You can orient mixed-use industrial ones like Soho [in New your tenant selection to those who provide York]—we don’t want to tear them down better jobs, community engagement and and put up new towers. David Lewis, an community prosperity.” urban design professor at Carnegie Mellon University, said: “If you get the street right, We really have to put pressure on the anchor it doesn’t matter how tall the stuff goes up institutions. We have to tell them: “You’re one around the street.” So you can build up if of the largest companies by valuation in the there’s dynamism in the streetscape, with world. We need your help with affordable restaurants or bars or cafes or creative housing and job upgrading. Do this for your activities. Too many urban economists are service workers.” saying the answer is more density. It’s not just density. It’s density plus. Design really matters The private sector had better wake up because too: the design of the urban fabric, the people are mad! This was what happened with mixture of uses and the use of public spaces. the New Deal, a set of programmes enacted in These spaces and uses don’t have to be big. the 1930s to deal with the Great Depression. They can be pocket parks or activities. The private sector realised: “Manufacturing What is inclusionary prosperity, and workers are striking. They are forming how can cities work with the private sector alternative political parties. We have to pay to address this? them better.” We talk about inclusionary zoning, which But I think this has to be done at the local requires developers to incorporate affordable level. There’s very little national support for or social housing into their developments, this in the United States, which is divided but that’s just a first step. We need a bigger across geographical lines. The mayors have template and set of tools. We need to move to to work to address this. There is a rise of a a much bigger and better conversation about new breed of progressive mayors like Sadiq what I call “inclusionary prosperity” . Khan, Anne Hidalgo, Bill de Blasio and Eric Garcetti, the mayors of London, Paris, New It’s got to be more about getting urban anchor York and Los Angeles respectively. They are institutions to trade the ability to develop developing policies and approaches for more for a real commitment to the community. inclusive cities. 01 New York’s Soho, known for its mixed-use buildings and active street life. 02 Pocket parks such as the Paley Park in New York City provide welcome respite to the urban jungle and draw people to the streets. 9 interview 01 ISSUE 12 • JAN 2018 ISSUE 12 • JAN 02 We need to move to a much bigger and better conversation about what I call “‘inclusionary prosperity’. 01 ” 11 interview What about the divide within cities? 02 Is there an optimal mix of high- and low-income people? Cities have always been where entrepreneurs and ambitious people flock to. They have also long attracted the unskilled who are looking for a better life. But now, we have lost the middle class and the middle class neighbourhoods that were once the platforms for upward mobility. Back in the 1970s, about three- quarters of Americans lived in middle class neighbourhoods. Now, less than lesbian community and immigrants. 40% do. So we need to do more.
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