It's no longer summer, but recent book picks from Joe Cortright and Lee Fisher remain relevant. What about you, urban leader: Have you picked up Enrico Moretti's
The New Geography of Jobs, Ed Glaeser's
Triumph of the City, or the refresh of Richard Florida's seminal
The Rise of the Creative Class?
Write Fisher and Cortright:
There's little question that the original generated a huge amount of debate and attention on the questions of cities and creativity, putting Florida at the center of many controversies. This edition revisits and updates the analysis from the original book, showing how many of the relationships from a decade ago -- such as the correlation between tolerance and technology -- persist or have grown stronger.
Much of the book is a response to critics, and while this may be Florida's effort to have the last word -- it won't be. Readers will find some points familiar and unchanged: despite broadening his case to include the creativity of all people, the book still retains his trademark term "class" to describe creative people. It is still possible to dispute some specifics, but Florida does deserve credit for signaling what he calls the bottom line: "cities need a people climate as much, and perhaps even more than they need a business climate."
Read the full list of recommendations
here.