Richard Florida describes himself as a thinker. \u201cI sit in a little room with a computer and think thoughts and write them down,\u201d he told a capacity audience or more than 200 in the Lubar Center of Marquette Law School during an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d program on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But his thoughts have made him an influential and widely-followed analyst of the trends shaping urban life in North America. His 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class<\/em>, predicted that there would be a surge of vitality in cities where creative people \u2013 tech innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, and so on \u00a0\u2013 clustered.<\/p>\n \u201cI really under-predicted,\u201d Florida told Gousha. In following years there was \u201can urban revival on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n The trends he foresaw have shown up in Milwaukee. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what\u2019s happened here,\u201d Florida said, mentioning some of the things he had done and seen since arriving the previous day. \u201cMilwaukee has done a fabulous job of reinventing itself.\u201d<\/p>\n But the boom in urban living and economic vitality has brought with it downsides, Florida said. All you need to know is the title to his new book to catch his concerns: The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class \u2013 and What We Can Do About It.<\/em><\/p>\n Florida told the Eckstein Hall audience, \u201cThere was this unanticipated or unintended consequence that out of this smaller group, the creative class, about a third of us \u2013 a little bit more than that in Milwaukee \u2013 began to benefit from the urban revival. The gap between the affluent third and the remaining 60 percent grew across our entire country. Inequality grew. Segregation of groups living like-minded with like-minded, like-income with like-income, grew. Our middle class declined, our housing became less affordable.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the urban revival was great, but it conferred a disproportionate share of benefits on one group.\u201d In recent years, the United States has become more like two countries, one thriving and one struggling, he said. Those who are struggling are disproportionately from minority groups, those with lower levels of educational success, and those who worked in the kind of industries that have declined.<\/p>\n In the new book, Florida, who lives now in Toronto and has university professorships in Toronto and New York, refers to what has happened in many places as \u201cwinner-takes-all urbanism.\u201d Milwaukee, he said, hasn\u2019t seen this as powerfully as some places have, but there are signals of the problems here.<\/p>\n And, Florida said, it\u2019s important to respond positively. He told the audience, \u201cWe have to move from a winner-takes-all urbanism to an urbanism for all. We have to move from a divided society to an inclusive society. We have to bring together inclusion and prosperity.\u201c<\/p>\n Florida said the answers are not going to come from the federal government or, in many cases, from states. And he said they aren\u2019t going to come from him, although he outlined during the program and in the book areas that need to be addressed, including availability of transportation, affordable housing, and \u00a0high quality early childhood programs. He said the answers are going to come from local governments and from private sector efforts. He hopes his new book will spur such efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no model for doing it,\u201d he said, and no one and no city is doing everything right. But, overall, he is optimistic, and that is based on what he sees and thinks can happen in places including Milwaukee. Florida said, \u201cI\u2019m just so incredibly heartened by what I see in so many communities around this country and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n