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Who's Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Florida
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $14.78
You Save: $12.17 (45%)
New (32) Used (14) from $14.75
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 7107
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0465003524
Dewey Decimal Number: 304.23
EAN: 9780465003525
Publication Date: March 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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Product Description
It’s a mantra of the age of globalization that where we live doesn’t matter. We can innovate just as easily from a ski chalet in Aspen or a beachhouse in Provence as in the office of a Silicon Valley startup.
According to Richard Florida, this is wrong. Globalization is not flattening the world; in fact, place is increasingly relevant to the global economy and our individual lives. Where we live determines the jobs and careers we have access to, the people we meet, and the “mating markets” in which we participate. And everything we think we know about cities and their economic roles is up for grabs.
Who’s Your City? offers the first available city rankings by life-stage, rating the best places for singles, families, and empty-nesters to reside. Florida’s insights and data provide an essential guide for the more than 40 million Americans who move each year, illuminating everything from what those choices mean for our everyday lives to how we should go about making them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Where to live and why February 27, 2008
Michael Wells
70 out of 78 found this review helpful
Richard Florida does it again. In his bestselling "Rise of the Creative Class", he demonstrated the world's move to a creativity-based economy. But also that this emerging economy is increasingly concentrated in about a dozen cities in the US, and two or three dozen worldwide.
In "Who's Your City", Florida goes in two directions. First he lays the groundwork, expanding on his research of a clustering force of creative people that is making some regions economic and cultural winners. He explores the emerging "Mega-regions" (Bos-Wash, Northern California, Greater London) that are replacing nations as the organizing force of economic activity. He also plays with the idea that cities have personalities that attract different kinds of people.
Then in the last section Florida brings it all together, and shows why the book got its name. He says where we live is one of three major life decisions (along with choosing a mate and a career), and in fact can have a strong effect on the other two. But most people give it little thought, especially compared to love and work.
Then he gets personal. He gives us a 10-step process for deciding on a new home. To his credit, Florida doesn't assume we should all move to creative class Mecca's like Austin or Seattle. He recognizes that for many people, staying near family and friends is paramount, and that the search for experience isn't for everyone. What he does do is say that this can be a conscious decision.
But if you ARE looking for a new place to live, Florida's 10-point list is certainly the best tool for organizing your thinking -- from identifying what's important to you to generating a short list, researching the options and making a final decision.
Even if you're happy with your city and not planning to move, "Who's Your City" is a fascinating study of how the world is changing, from macroeconomics to popular culture. Recommended for everyone.
Location drives nearly everything read why May 20, 2008
Gaetan Lion
22 out of 25 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book. R. Florida counters the theories of the The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. At the beginning, he outlines how just 40 Mega-Regions dominate the World economy. While those account for just 17% of the World's population, they generate two thirds of its GDP and over 85% of its innovation (measured by patents and scientific papers). Additionally, the GDP of those Mega-Regions are growing faster. So, the concentration of economic power in those centers is accelerating. He calls this the "clustering effect." Thus, the World is not flat. It is spiky and getting spikier. Risk taking, creative, and talented people represent the "creative class" a concept he introduced in The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. The creative class members have strong incentives to cluster where the action is (the Mega-Regions). He demonstrates how the main economic scale has shifted from Nations to Mega-Regions and MSA level. The first two Mega-Regions (greater Tokyo and the D.C., New York, Boston corridor) both generate GDPs greater than $2 trillion. They would rank as the 3d and 4th largest World economies second only to the U.S. and Japan.
With other eminent social scientists, he studies the allocation of human resources in the U.S. in many ways. He shares the resulting maps of: a) the U.S. Mega-Regions, b) areas by % of college graduates, c) areas by income, d) areas by % belonging to creative class, e) areas by home prices. He uses similar color coding for each of those five maps that focuses on those different variables. And, the five different maps are very alike. It is as if you are seeing the same map five times, but with different legends. Thus, the high income, educated, creative class clusters within the Mega-Regions of the West Coast and the North East.
Next, R. Florida introduces the reader to the Big 5 Factor psychological model with the factors being: extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to new experience. He invites the reader to take the test at a mentioned website. My whole family took it. And, it was fun and revealing. The website captures the anonymous psychological profiles and zip codes. From this data, Florida and his colleagues create a map of personality types that shows where the conscientious types live, etc... Now, we can add a sixth dimension to the map: Openness. Thus, it is the open-minded, high income, educated, creative class that all clusters in the Mega-Regions of the West Coast and North East. And, that's where the most expensive real estate markets are.
R. Florida analysis states that society is increasingly sorting itself by location. His analysis reminds one of Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book) where Hernstein and Murray indicated that society is increasingly stratified by cognitive abilities. Thus, accountants, lawyers, doctors, and investment bankers all have increasingly higher cognitive abilities vs a few decades ago. The same happens within the mentioned Mega-Regions of the West Coast and North East. Individuals with higher capabilities and income opportunities migrate to those areas and bid up local real estate values. Others find themselves priced out and move out of those "Superstar Cities" leaving room for other creative class achievers to move in further bidding up real estate prices. The creative class achievers need to move to those Superstar Cities to fulfill their potential. R. Florida has all those specialized regions mapped out in Figure 7.3: The New Geography of Work. If you want to be an investment banker you need to be in Manhattan. If you are engaged in hi tech you need to be in Silicon Valley.
R. Florida's work relates closely to another of Murray's book Human Accomplishment : The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 where Murray develops a regression model estimating how many luminaries lived at any one time in a specific country. The variables included GDP, human capital (top notch universities), networks (# of political and financial centers), and population of largest city (clustering). R. Florida explains how, why, and where people cluster. Murray explains the historical implication of clustering (# of luminaries in various fields at a specific time period).
In the last few chapters R. Florida focuses on the best places to live for various stages of life. He finds that a few cities perform well on many criteria. The San Francisco Bay Area performs well in 20 different categories. Boston is second ranking well in 13.
Within those last chapters, R. Florida shares many interesting insights. He finally addresses the relationship between likelihood of moving and life stages; a 25 year old is three times more likely than a 45 year old to move. This entails that cities that loose the young adults are loosing talent permanently. Once a college grad leaves town, he is unlikely to come back. Young college grads cluster in just a few cities. Those are the winners in the competition for talent. Empty nesters over 65 are likely to move further than their counterparts a decade younger. Where the Boomers will move as empty nesters will impact real estate prices and culture. He anticipates a mild generation conflict between Boomers and the younger creative class that will inhabit the same communities. Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069is an excellent book that further covers generation conflicts.
He shares other interesting statistics. The real jobless rate for black male high school drop out in their 20s including those in jail was 72% in 2004. Within this same group more are in jail then working. On another topic, chance of a high school graduate marrying a college graduate shrank by 43% between 1940 and the late 70s. People mate increasingly within equal education level. This is causing a rise in household income inequality as education is highly correlated to income.
If you find this review interesting, you'll find the book fascinating.
An interesting new book by Florida April 2, 2008
Olle Benner (Staffanstorp, Sweden)
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
I work as a local politician in a community where we are planning an accelerated growth. I don't agree with the ideas of the majority.
I find mr Floridas ideas helpful when arguing.
Must Read for All Grads! March 7, 2008
D. Miller (DC)
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
While Florida highlights the fact that there are many life stages in which we can make major moves, after reading this, I believe this is a must read for all recent graduates (HS, COLLEGE, GRAD STUDENTS) who are trying to decide what they want to do with their lives.
As Florida shows, and supports with extensive data and tools, where you live has a huge impact on one's life and happiness. This is the big decision that few people (parents, mentors, guidance/career advisors, etc.) ever talk about. Florida does it and does it in a way that will benefit all who read this book.
Location is EVERYTHING July 27, 2008
M. R. Estante (North America)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Excellent book! From personal experience I agree that choice of where to live is the most important factor in one's personal happiness.
I grew up in Canada in a Rocky Mountain town called Calgary (home of the Calgary Stampede) north of the Montana border. When I was 16 I skipped town and ran off to Toronto. I fell in love with the city at first sight because I felt welcome in its multicultural inclusive atmosphere. I spent well over a decade of my life in the urban metropolis before family obligation took me back to Calgary in the spring of 2008. My initial impression of Toronto was that for for everything I was told was weird about me as an ethnic kid in Calgary ... it didn't seem to matter there. For example, I had to remind people I was a minoroty many times because they just saw me and not my skin color or ethnic origin. In Toronto I met people who could speak Japanese and French but were of British descent. The city had a global perspective that was really attractive. People were actually interested in other cultures and religions and weren't afraid of them or called them derogatory names. Toronto taught me that it was OK to pursue what one wanted regardless of where they came from. While Toronto has been accussed of thinking itself the center of the universe and being "cold" .... to its credit it is a tolerant city.
To be honest, Toronto and its citizens healed my heartbreak of a childhood experiencing racial slurs in the school playground and being called "brown girl" instead of my name into high school. That is why location, location, location matters number one in determining quality of life.
Being the most multicultural city in the world (by the United Nations) is a real treat. I love the diversity of people, sectors, and the hustle bustle vibrancy of it all. Most of the last several years I lived in Yorkville in the heart of the city and enjoyed the film festivals, easy public transit, Harbourfront and Toronto Island, and just the variety of life one can live in Toronto. The years in Toronto intertwined with sojourns in New York and San Francisco with a foray into London for a time but I always came home to Toronto.
Toronto is very intellectual in that Eastern way and my career has really benefited from the polished style of business there. What I enjoy most about Toronto is that its like New York but livable and still safe compared to other US cities. Its a hub so travel in and out of Canada is easy and hey, Toronto is on the map internationally.
Toronto truly taught me that being colour blind was a good thing. The Calgary of my childhood gave me, as a minority, a different and far less kind experience back then. It could have been my imagination or just adolescence because kids do act different from adults. Nonetheless, I felt something back then that may or may not have been true. The Calgary I came back to now has a bit of Toronto 's cosmo flavor so my experience here as an adult has been as positive as my childhood memories were negative. I have met people who are well-travelled, friendly, and down to earth with a very grounded perspective of life. The city has the most sunshine in Canada and the Rockies are really nearby. Though if you're not an outdoors person it may not matter but once you get used to the physical beauty of Alberta you may be lured to explore more. The main difference to me is that Toronto is at 5.5 million people compared to a mere 1 million and change so I feel like I am in a small town and worried I will get bored.
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