Urban theorist Richard Florida’s 2002 book, “The Rise of the Creative Class” has been both prescient and prescriptive for many city centers in America.
Florida’s book predicted that a class of young, educated millennials who are employed in mostly creative fields would flood deserted urban cores looking for inexpensive housing, thereby changing the fortunes of these neighborhoods.
Florida’s predictions have been mostly correct. But these urban revitalizations - exemplified by Los Angeles’s Downtown - have brought their shares of ills, like gentrification and displacement. The business professor tackles these issues head on in his new book, “The New Urban Crisis.”
Guest:
Richard Florida, a professor of business at the University of Toronto in Canada; he is the author of many books, including his latest, “The New Urban Crisis” (Basic Books, 2017)