ABSTRACT
In his latest book, Who’s Your City? Richard Florida (2008) discusses how powerful, productivity-enhancing agglomeration benefits are driving the growth of mega-cities both in the US and worldwide. Such cities include New York, London, Tokyo, and the San Francisco Bay area. Referring to Zipf’s power law, he argues that the population, productivity, and income advantages enjoyed by these mega-cities today will only increase in the future – along with congestion and pollution cost disadvantages. If mega-cities are on an inexorable trajectory toward growth and rising productivity, then the role for economic development policy in these cities is small and possibly limited to removing obstacles to further growth. The mega-city areas are basically in good shape, and at best require policy intervention to take the edge off the disadvantages and costs associated with population congestion, as well as anticipating future institutional and infrastructure needs of these huge cities. At the same time, Florida paints a bleak and even ominous future for those regions – the valleys in his world – that are not mega-cities. This includes cities that are second-and third-tiered, places like St. Louis, Louisville, and Milwaukee, and, of course, rural areas.
