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September 12, 2003
Investing in comeback cities
While the San Franciscos, Austins and Iowa City's continue to prosper on their entertainment and quality of life strengths, what are the next generation cities and what are they doing to initiate growth today?
In the Milken Institute's Knowledge-Value Cities in the Digital Age, authors Joel Kotkin and Ross DeVol identify the following as "comeback cities":
Philadelphia PA: Philly is finally benefitting from city-sponsored revitalization of its urban neighborhoods to stem the massive brain drain from Temple, the Univ. of Pennsylvania and Drexel.
Brooklyn NY: The Brooklyn Academy of Music is catalyzing a major cultural arts district, while the City promotes a 24-hour atmosphere to attract entrepreneurial creatives.
Pittsburgh PA: Investing more dollars in communications than any other city, this city that has more jobs than residents is focused on transforming 700 acres of manufacturing into neighborhoods.
Tacoma WA: Taking advantage of spillover 30 miles north of Seattle, Tacoma "Click Network" fiber-optic system and industrial area workplace conversion attracted 100 new technology firms.
Baltimore MD: The City invested in successful waterfront and funky workplace renovations have literally sparked neighborhood renaissances
Oakland CA: An under-used industrial district in West Oakland, comprehensive fiber-optic infrastructure, relative Bay Area affordability and proximity to Silicon Valley contribute to potential prosperity to San Francisco's forgotten neighbor.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
September 11, 2003
Best Performing Small Cities: Where America's Jobs Are Created: Iowa City #1
Iowa City?! Ever heard of it? You should. Not only did the acclaimed Milken Institute name it as the best small city in economic performance and job creation in the country in their annual report, but here are a few other accolades:
• One of the ten most enlightened towns in the U.S. - Utne Reader
• Listed in the book The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America
• Number-one place to live in the nation by Editor & Publisher magazine.
Diversity of economic base was listed as the most common attribute for economic success. Other important assets are a university presence, an array of service-based (evolving to experience-based) industries and population-driven growth.
A diverse economic base essentially comes from a diverse population, and cities must understand statements like the following if they want to attract and retain graduate talent: "Iowa City is very diverse for a small town. Coming from Chicago, it was surprising to me to find something similar to that in such a small town. I have a wide variety of friends across different cultures here in Iowa, and that's privately what i didn't think i'd find here." African-American University of Iowa student
The Milken Institute's keys to become a best performing city: Economic dynamism/entrepreneurialism, capital access, human/creative capital, innovation capacity and global/international integration attributes - all CoolTown objectives.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
September 10, 2003
The Creative Index: San Francisco #1
First of all, it's important to realize that creativity produces jobs, attracts people and increases income.
The Creativity Index, pioneered by the Richard Florida Creativity Group, is measured via creative workforce (science, engineering, architecture, design, education, arts, music, entertainment), innovations (patents per capita), high-tech industry and diversity.
#1 on the Creative Index is the San Francisco Bay Area (Austin is #2). It's also #1 in diversity.
Since the SF Bay Area is one of the most expensive places in the world to live in, and jobs follow talent, reason holds that the entertainment value can't be anything short of spectacular. I've lived throughout the area - it is:
Incredible nightlife, literally hundreds of one-of-a-kind cafes and restaurants, skiing, mountain biking, beaches, water sports, breath-taking hikes, beautiful walkable urban neighborhoods, art galleries, talent-laden live music venues, amazing architecture, lots of fascinating creative people to make your own entertainment with, etc. etc. etc.
The city of San Francisco itself is one of the few places in the U.S. that is a living, walkable museum unto itself.
Vignette by Thomas Kinkade
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
September 9, 2003
Best Places for Business and Careers: Austin #1
Forbes ranks Austin as the Best Place for Business and Careers in their annual report. What are the key ingredients for its success?
Entertainment: As mentioned on this site previously, Austin is indeed the live music capital of the world. The proof is in asking just about anyone who's been to Austin - "It's so cool. There's always something going on and the people are so nice."
Affordability: The second annual Affordability Index from techies.com Inc. (a treasure trove of workforce market insight) puts Austin in third place. The index measures the greatest value based on salary vs. cost of living.
Jobs: Based on the information above, it's no surprise Austin attracts so many jobs. Supported by one of the largest education talent pools in the country (49,000 University of Texas students), Dell, Motorola and IBM soon migrated. Overall, Austin has one of the highest net migration rates in the country, if not the highest.
Austin is lacking a bit in the place-making department, but the talent and energy are there to change that.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
September 8, 2003
Jobs follow talent, not vice versa
Look at the image above... to an employer, that's a potential gold mine.
"Keep your tax incentives and highway interchanges, we will go where the highly-skilled people are." Carly Fiorina CEO, Hewlett-Packard
"What's the secret to power hiring? Location, location, location. If you want to attract the right kind of people, it's not enough to be the right kind of company. Your company needs to be in the right kind of place." Richard Florida, author of The Creative Class
Those highly-skilled people Ms. Fiorina is talking about are affordable, energetic, internet-educated graduates and Gen Xers, and that audience is migrating to where the entertainment is high and the cost of living is low.
#1 on the list? Austin, Texas, the focus for tomorrow.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
