(2007-02-21) Kotkin Luxury Cities

Cory Doctorow on Joel Kotkin's observation that the A-List cities (Urban) are poor value for normal people, and becoming Luxury Re Sort towns like Vail Co. (Kotkin's piece was a response to Mike Bloomberg Framing NYC as a Luxury good.) Bad Urban Development future with the flight of the Creative Class?

Kotkin: In some superstar cities less than 10% of households can afford a median-priced home. Nationally the average is about 50%... So what about the rest of the hoi polloi -- what is their urban future? For the most part, sadly, not in the "superstar" cities. Middle Class people have been fleeing the expensive cities for more affordable ones for a generation, and the migration has continued as the price differentials have grown... To raise such issues amidst today’s giddiness tends to reap the scorn of many big city developers and other devotees of the superstar version of urbanism. Elite city boosters like academic Richard Florida consider any return to a traditional "back to basics" agenda as reflective of "neocon anti-urbanism.".. The game, however, is far from over. Some larger superstar cities, like New York or LA, may still possess enough economic and social diversity as well as the physical space to shift direction. Despite their dysfunctional political systems, radical changes in tax, regulatory and education policies, including a new emphasis on practical skills training, could restore their historic attraction to those who wish to start a small business, or maintain a middle-class family.

Doctorow: I know what he means -- I think of Europe's B-list cities, like Florence, as having the best of all worlds: relatively cheap housing, lots of weird, experimental activity, cosmopolitanism, beauty and culture. Go to a superstar city like NYC or London and check out how similar all the restaurants, stores, and galleries are. When you need to make $[RIDICULOUS] per square foot every month, there's not a lot of room for a crazy, experimental bookstore or a funky, marginal cafe. Compare that to cities like Melbourne, Montreal, Austin and many other "second cities" and you find a flourishing alternative culture.