Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Tech Company Wagons Ho! Geography of the Urban Land Rush

Tech companies build suburban campuses in the urban core at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: Innovation geography.

Subject Article: "Space Shift: As Wealthiest Flock to Supertall Condos, Offices Go Horizontal."

Other Links: 1. "Are Millennials Willing to Spend Most of Their Income on Housing?"
2. "Why Technology Firms Are Moving Downtown."

Postscript: Millennial housing choices subsidize tech labor costs when firms locate downtown (while retaining a suburban-like footprint):

Seattle boasts the highest number of micro-dwellings in the country—3,000 at last count. It also permits the most audaciously minimal units, some as small as 90 square feet. That’s about the size of two prison cells put together.

It’s not for the claustrophobic, but it does come with perks—including the chance for millennials and those with modest incomes to settle in vibrant urban neighborhoods. Their presence, in turn, injects new energy to the heart of the city while tamping down suburban sprawl. Micro-housing reflects a growing zeitgeist—to stop accruing, go minimalist and reduce one’s footprint. Indeed, the name of Seattle’s leading micro-housing development company is called Footprint.

Tech companies, looking to employ well-educated millennials, are expanding their urban footprint. Millennials, looking for city-living and proximity to work, are actively shrinking their urban footprint to lower the cost of rent (or homeownership) forced up by in-migrating tech companies.

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