Theme: Convergence of the Innovation Economy.
Subject Article: "How Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ boosted Silicon Valley."
Other Links: 1. "Five Linked Crises in the Contemporary World-System."
2. "Washington Consensus."
3. "Left Behind: Chicago is bequeathing an urban jungle to the next generation."
4. "It’s Settled: Silicon Valley Is Dying. So What’s Next?"
5. "Not Dante's Pittsburgh."
6. "Era of Dying Places."
7. "Diverging Demography of Baltimore and Africa."
8. "The False Promise of Eds and Meds."
9. "Urban Geography of Globalization."
10. "Rahm Emanuel: Mayor America."
Postscript: Riding high on a wave of innovation after the collapse of manufacturing, Chicago is heading towards a major wipe out:
Between 2007 and 2011, Chicago and its immediate suburbs also ended up with about 10,000 fewer residents with a bachelor's degree or higher, even after accounting for new arrivals, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's first attempt to track population shifts by income and education at the county level.
In recent years, local officials and real estate developers have touted a resurgence in young tech workers and affluent empty-nesters revitalizing the city's core. Yet those trends are seemingly being overshadowed by more powerful factors, as other parts of the city and close-in suburbs send even larger numbers of prosperous, college-educated people to DuPage County and beyond.
“Wow, the movement back to the center that a lot of urban planners in the region were hoping for isn't borne out by this data,” says Rich Greene, associate professor of geography and urban studies at Northern Illinois University. “It's counter to what we've all been reading about.”
Compare that to recent trends in Cleveland:
The census estimates show that Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, gained about 3,450 more highly educated people than it lost. An estimated 25,450 adults with at least some college experience came to the county while about 22,000 left.
Granted, Cleveland is trying to catch up to Chicago's lofty perch now in decline. Chicago is betting on the converging Innovation Economy. More places will compete for a shrinking pool of talent. Cleveland is betting on the diverging Legacy Economy. Chicago does have great legacy assets (i.e. institutions of higher education producing world class talent), but seems to be ignoring them at its own peril.
5 comments:
Are you suggesting that Cleveland will play a part in the new economy you describe, but that St. Louis won't? The numbers suggest that St. Louis is in a significantly better position than Cleveland. How can we distinguish between those places that will participate in the new economy and those that won't?
"The numbers suggest that St. Louis is in a significantly better position than Cleveland."
Which numbers?
So you do see Cleveland as more promising than St. Louis. St. Louis' Metro population, property values, and GDP have done better over the last decade though.
No, I don't see Cleveland as more promising than St. Louis. I do see some indications that St. Louis has a much better talent migration profile than Cleveland does.
If you're talking about metros, use metro statistics. If you're talking about downtowns, use downtown statistics.
County boundaries are economically meaningful, and you shouldn't represent them as such. As a geographer you should have access to better data.
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