ContrariLand

Every few weeks I need to go through my notes and summarize interesting thoughts from what I’ve been reading.    Otherwise, other people’s good ideas just slip away!  Below are a few notes on a handful of interesting books about cities I have read recently.

The books
“>“Startup Communities””, Brad Feld

“>“Who’s Your City”, and “>“New Urban Crisis”, Richard Florida

“>“Next American City”, Mick Cornett

“>“Smartest Places on Earth”, Antoine van Agtmael

“>“New Localism”, Bruce Katz

These books (with one exception) generally offer a positive view of communities and the future of cities, written from perspectives of entrepreneurs (Feld), policy-makers (Katz), politicians (Cornett) and professors (Florida).  As I sat down, I came to three overarching thoughts.

1. The power of an institution. While people are increasingly skeptical of large institutions, it many cities are successfully betting on them to help drive economic growth.  In particular, much (if not most) recent urban revitalization has occurred in some sort of partnership with a university or hospital system.  Examples include University City (Philly), University Circle (Cleveland), Johns Hopkins and Wash U in Baltimore and St Louis.   Institutions like these are some of the few truly permanent features of the urban fabric, and play the roles that governments or wealthy benefactors might have played historically.

At their best, these anchors churn out young ambitious people anxious to change the world.  This is the rocket fuel for economic growth in knowledge-based world.  Cities that have the rocket fuel in their backyard have a huge advantage.   These anchors are not with out risk.   The Chinese are investing in their “Elite 9” (their Ivy League), which could hurt demand to select US schools in the future.  The cost/benefit of a four year education is being questioned, applications are falling and innovation pioneer Clayton Christensen has gone on record predicting that half of all U.S. colleges will go away in the relatively near future.

I think in periods of rapid change, continuous learning is more important than ever.  However, that doesn’t necessarily need to come from a university or with degree.  It IS best done amongst like-minded curious people, but the nature of the educating institutions might change (see: Lambda School, etc.)

2. The power of clustering. At this point, the power of agglomeration seems well known.  Smart people in near proximity is the driving force of economic growth today, the human equivalent of steam mills and factories from one hundred years ago.  I recently read that in the old days you could make a good living with a strong back and a weak mind, but now it is the exact opposite.  Too true, and not all to the good.

Traditional clusters have been organic, occurring by chance, often due to the choices of a single person.  William Shockley likes the weather of the Bay Area, and Silicon Valley can be traced back to that choice.  Similarly, clusters of furniture in North Carolina and shoe-making in New England have come and gone roughly by chance, as suppliers choose to locate near manufacturers.

Recognizing this power, cities are now trying to recreate these clusters.  BioCrossroads in Indianapolis and Life Science Alley in Minneapolis are examples of industry clustering of large existing companies. This helps formalize and market an existing cluster.  On my last trip to Indianapolis I recall seeing an advertisement for BioCrossroads in the airport and it struck me how effective the campaign was..  Others are attempting to developing “Innovation Districts” to create mixed-use environments that are more conducive to creative work than the old single-use suburban office parks of previous generations.   GE strongly wants to be near universities and the Innovation Districts (which are something of a commercial university) are a great location for forward-thinking companies.  Big pharma has intentionally cut back on their R&D spending and plan to outsource the “R” to startups and tech firms, which they then acquire, all or in part.    These biotech firms are ideal candidates for Innovation Districts.

Such Districts are a great idea in practice, but the challenge seems the execution.   First, can they make money for the developer?  If not, are cities willing and able to subsidize to get them started?  Second, can they be authentic?  As Jane Jacobs said, “new ideas require old buildings”.  The same people that these areas are trying to attract also love locally grown coffee and beer, and unique food options.

3. The re-emergence of the city-state. So much energy is focused on national politics but really, cities are where the action is. London is more important than the U.K., and Boston is more important than Massachusetts.  Cities and city governments are actually getting things done and becoming the laboratories that our federal system was designed for.

In the vernacular of tech, Cities are the ultimate platforms, bringing together supply (jobs) and demand (people) and they also thrive off the network effect, where more supply brings more demand (and vice versa).  If cities didn’t exist, Elon Musk would invent them.  They are the central organizing principle, like GM and IBM of yore.

Richard Florida’s work does a great job showing the downside of success in some cities, namely the inequality.  Inequality across cities is obvious, but he also discusses the inequality within cities, which is both more unfortunate (because local costs are more similar within than across cities) but also potentially more solvable.

Some really great reads that demonstrate an optimism on potential paths for building a future that recognizes each geography has its own strengths and there is no cookie-cutter approach to success in economic development.