Monday, April 07, 2008

Generation Nomad

Curious anecdote at CEO for Cities blog:

Connect this to the comment a smart Yale law school student told me this week: My class is not thinking of going anywhere other than New York, LA, San Francisco or Washington. And they are completely nomadic. They don't imagine themselves staying in one place for long.

A generation of nomads ... Now what does that mean for cities?

The first thing that comes to my mind is Richard Florida's Spiky World View. On a second consideration, I don't know of many political geographies oriented towards the churn of human capital. I'm ready for a generation of nomads. How about your city?

1 comment:

Jason Wilburn said...

Jim,

I am a former Nomad. I grew up in Pittsburgh, went to school in Ann Arbor, lived in London, Chicago, DC, LA and returned to Pittsburgh a few years ago. I agree that people are becoming more nomadic but as you get older the stints become longer.

Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the rest of the Great Lakes Rust Belt Region can compete in a nomadic culture, we are interesting, but we are more interesting to people in a different phase of their lives.

A Nomadic generation could be a very good thing for the rust belt.