The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—And What We Can Do About It

There is a new urban crisis impacting cities and suburbs, maintains Florida (director, Martin Prosperity Inst., Univ. of Toronto; The Rise of the Creative Class). The author considers such issues as increasing inequality, rising housing prices, economic and racial segregation, spatial inequality, and entrenched poverty. He concludes that a "winner-take-all urbanism" is creating a growing gulf between "superstar cities" that have high concentrations of talented people and economic resources, and areas that do not. This "clustering force" is seen as creating "areas of concentrated affluence and concentrated poverty," and leading to the shrinking of middle-class neighborhoods. Florida offers several solutions, along with supporting documentation, that will ensure growth and prosperity for a larger segment of the population. Some of these ideas include building more affordable rental housing in central locations, switching from a property tax to a land value tax, and having the minimum wage reflect the local cost of living. Social theorists may find fault with the conclusions and proposed remedies, but urban planners should consider the case being made for the need to address a new urban crisis.