This week’s non-fiction book of the week is The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class – and What We Can Do About It, by Richard Florida. Lesson #2: Superstar citiesToronto is tied with Stockholm for 10th on the list of superstar cities compiled by the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, where Florida is Director of Cities (New York, London and Tokyo are the top three). These cities benefit from the clustering effect of individual talent, firms and industries (especially tech). Despite the positives derived from the economic scaling-up of superstar cities, these same factors promote inequality, as economically displaced citizens lose access to those very job prospects, urban amenities and mobility. Tomorrow’s lesson: Why NIMBYism and rent-seeking behaviour poses a special challenge to cities.

Source: National Post May 03, 2017 17:48 UTC