economic development
« Previous EntriesRenting in dynamic cities
Friday, May 14th, 2010Richard Florida’s work, The Great Reset, has launched a great discussion about the place of home rental in American life and the American economy. I’ve been doing a lot of research and thinking on apartment renting myself, and have a few thoughts on what could be happening now, and in the future.
I would argue that […]
An overlooked technology in shaping the city
Sunday, May 9th, 2010The birth control pill turns 50 this week. This technology has arguably been a key ingredient in shaping 21st century North American and European economic and urban life. And yet, I don’t ever recall hearing urban theorists mention it. So here’s the argument for the Pill as a key technology in shaping the new urban […]
What will make Toronto better
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010As discussed in my previous post, I find Toronto fascinating and enjoy visiting. But it’s also a city with some immediate challenges that are perhaps holding the city back.
So what changes will improve Toronto and help it evolve faster into a global, international knowledge-economy hub?
#1. Better transit. The metro system hasn’t been upgraded since 1967, […]
Toronto needs a boost
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010This is the first of two posts on Toronto. First, before anyone accuses me of being a self-centered Torontonian (which tends to happen when I say nice things about Toronto), let me say that I’m not from there. I was born and largely raised in Vancouver and after stints elsewhere have chosen to make […]
Does a city (or a country) need corporate head offices
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Three years ago I pondered whether all the fretting about Vancouver losing corporate head offices had merit — and concluded that it did not:
If we look at the causes of head office decline in Vancouver, we see that it comes from a position of corporate success — not failure. Successful companies have been acquired by […]
The coming blurred boundaries between work and home
Monday, February 8th, 2010Over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the intersection of workplace trends and urban living trends. It’s becoming probable that the urban knowledge economy will require many workers to supply their own private workspace. Employers — or the city milieu itself — will be responsible for supplying the space for collaboration. […]
American cities facing challenges
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009As the United States grapples with the worst job losses since World War Two, the nation’s cities need to be centers of solutions and incubators of private sector jobs. Yet, with government bank balances at all levels in the red, finding the resources to provide infrastructure and even maintain basic services will be challenging. Municipalities […]
Changing urban jobs, new urban lifestyles
Monday, November 9th, 2009How is the changing nature of urban employment changing our cities?
Many cities, particularly in North America, emerged as centers for manufacturing, primary industry and some natural resource processing and trade. In recent decades, manufacturing finished products has become more automated and global. Making primary products like steel has undergone a similar transformation. And many of […]
Urban jobs - tale of two countries
Friday, November 6th, 2009Want to compare urban employment across all major North American cities? and with historical perspective?
Here:’s a graph that allows you to see, on a monthly basis since 2002, the year-over-year job gains or losses.
If you look at the most recent month, across North America, what a “tale of two countries.”
H1N1 manufactured panic inconsistent with urban living
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Back in the late spring when the “swine flu” migrated out of Mexico, public health officials and the media quickly told the story of how it was proving to be a widespread, yet reasonably mild influenza virus. Other than people with certain pre-existing conditions, most who contracted it only had mild-to-moderate flu symptoms.
Flash forward to […]