Book Description
The national bestseller that defines a new economic class and shows how it is key to the future of our cities.
The Washington Monthly 2002 Annual Political Book Award Winner
The Rise of the Creative Class gives us a provocative new way to think about why we live as we do today-and where we might be headed. Weaving storytelling with masses of new and updated research, Richard Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity in our economy.
Just as William Whyte's 1956 classic The Organization Man showed how the organizational ethos of that age permeated every aspect of life, Florida describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly dominant. Millions of us are beginning to work and live much as creative types like artists and scientists always have-with the result that our values and tastes, our personal relationships, our choices of where to live, and even our sense and use of time are changing. Leading the shift are the nearly 38 million Americans in many diverse fields who create for a living--the Creative Class.
The Rise of the Creative Class chronicles the ongoing sea of change in people's choices and attitudes, and shows not only what's happening but also how it stems from a fundamental economic change. The Creative Class now comprises more than thirty percent of the entire workforce. Their choices have already had a huge economic impact. In the future they will determine how the workplace is organized, what companies will prosper or go bankrupt, and even which cities will thrive or wither.
Customer Reviews:
The signs have been posted........2007-08-10
This is a warning that while Europe is too liberal the U.S. is too conservative. The path to success is some where in the middle. We shouls stop being reactive and start being proactive.
Hopeful rise needs a libertarian push.......2007-04-11
"If America continues to make it harder for some of the world's most talented students and workers to come here, they'll go to other countries eager to tap into their creative capabilities--as will American citizens fed up with what they view as an increasingly repressive environment."
-- Dr. Richard Florida, The Flight of the Creative Class
From this quote from his second Creatve book you can see immediately the sort of society Dr. Florida wants. Me, too. What's puzzling is he doesn't explicitly attach his shiny new cart of creativity to the thoroughbred of peace and political liberty.
In particular, you'd expect him to lambaste the Neocon Usurpers for launching expensive wars for isolated benefit of the Carlyle Group. Is he pulling his punches so Rush Bimbaugh won't accuse him of Bush-bashing? In general, why doesn't Florida boldly oppose the bonecrushing machinery of government per se?
That's my 900-pound-gorilla reservation about The Creative books. Otherwise, they provide a nice boost to the kinds of people we want to cultivate in society... or even want to be.
It appears many in public office, more semi-comatose Democrats than fully rabid Republicans, are interested in developing and retaining creative communities.
But are they willing to do what it takes?
The more political power they wield the less willing they are.
Rise shows that what Dr. Florida calls the three Ts of creative-class communities--Talent, Technology, and Tolerance--occur rarely. And when they do, it's more from the tolerance angle.
Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Burlington (VT), Boston, the highest American cities on the creative-class list, achieve their vaunted status by spontaneous order. When governments catch up to what's going on and want to push people around, it's too late.
Tolerance is also another word for freedom. We can easily argue that liberty is fundamentally what the creative havenots have not. Talent and technology gravitate toward communities naturally when political leaders see their mission as preserving a natural order based on civil liberties.
They accomplish that mission mainly by removing government obstacles and keeping the infrastructure efficient.
Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. -- Thoreau
Libertarians need no writer from the halls of the Carnegie Mellon Institute to tell us this dear Hamlet. But it's nice that in Rise Dr. Florida makes such a good statistical case for what creativity is, where it lives, and how we can nurture it. He also makes us aware that we, too, are paid-up members of the CC.
...
For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]
Brian Wright
Copyright 2007
Phenomenal!.......2007-01-25
Phenomenal! I heard a lot of talk about this book and thought it was all about arts and culture. After 10 pages I realized it had nothing to do with arts and culture and everything to do with fundamental shifts in our society and economy and how it is impacting our communities. Very insightful and thoughtful.
The Rise of the Creative Class.......2007-01-16
Reads like a professor's text. A very interesting concept (I heard the author speak on a TV show which is why I bought the book) but the book is loaded with statistics and how he came up with his hypothesis and is a drag to read. My book club read it on my advice and very few bothered to finish it. I made myself finish it and even though I bought the second book, it lays on my self unread.
Lots of data, not much focus.......2006-11-27
The key concept of this book is the existence of a new Creative Class. Richard throws into the Creative Class almost everybody and groups them in two categories: the Super Creative Core and the "creative professionals". These two groups include: scientists, professors, poets, novelists, artists, entertainers, actors, designers, architects, non-fiction writers, editors, cultural figures, researchers, analysts, programmers, engineers, filmmakers, financial services, legal and health care professionals, business management and the list goes on. The problem is that the definition of this class is so loose. Even Richard admits that the definition is not really clear, but he goes on discarding the importance of rigour. A class must have political alignment as an expression of a common ground in the way wealth is created and distributed. It should be reflected in the way people vote; otherwise the class does not make sense. It is difficult to convince anyone that you can put these people in the same class: engineers and artists, accountants and actors.
The book uses shocking statistics and quotes and then follows through with flashy language to wrap up a nicely packaged chapter. The problem is that the book has enough time to loose the reader after seemingly never ending debates. This book has so much information and so little structure. All those tables are useless because they do not support a coherent system of principles or story. The writing is difficult to read and very repetitive. After the first fifty pages the same arguments are being rotated again and again: creativity is important, the time of agriculture has passed, the heavy industry is not important for global leadership, there is tension between individual freedom and corporation rigidity, etc.
In describing the new class, Richard Florida observes that "Fewer than one-quarter of all Americans (23.5 percent) accounted for by the 2000 Census lived in a 'conventional' nuclear family, down from 45 percent in 1960. This is social group is mentioned many times in the book. By contrast, the family social group is almost completely ignored. I have the impression that this is actually the creative class and all these indexes (Bohemian, Single, Gay, etc) match quite well the group's dynamics.
I gave this book a two stars rating purely on style and clarity and overall coherence of the book. I think that regardless of the political affiliation, the reader will have genuine difficulty in following the book from the beginning to the end. For instance, in discussing the transformations of every day life, in a polemic with other authors Richard says:
"Juxtaposed to this view are those who believe technology and unbridled market forces are making us work harder and faster, leaving us less time to enjoy each other and out interests, destroying human connections and damaging our neighbourhoods and communities. If the techno-utopians romanticize the future, these techno pessimists glorify the past. Unfettered hypercapitalism is leading to the end of work and the demise of high paying, secure jobs, according to social critics like Jeremy Rifkin. Worse yet, the elimination of such jobs destroy an important source of social stability, argues Richard Sennett, casting people adrift, corroding our collective character and damaging the very fibre of society. The workplace is evolving into an increasingly stressful and dehumanizing "white-collar sweatshop" in Fill Fraser's view, beset by long hours and chronic overwork. In the eyes of cultural critic Tom Frank, business has become an all-powerful and hegemonic cultural force, as entities like MTV and The Gap turn alternative-culture symbols into money making devices. Neighbourhoods, cities and society as a whole are losing the strong sense of community and civic-minded spirit that were the source of our prosperity, argues Robert Putnam. In his nostalgia for a bygone era of VFW halls, bowling leagues, Cub Scout troops and Little League, Putnam contends that the demise of these repositories of `social capital' is the source of virtually all of our woes..."
If you were able to read the text above without losing your concentration and you remembered what started it, then you might be able to read the book and even like it. Otherwise you will probably find that after you read page after page you realise your thoughts were wondering somewhere else. You come back, re-read those pages, only to find you lost your thoughts again.
Book Description
One of the hottest trends in real estate is the development of town centers and urban villages that include a mix of uses in a pedestrian friendly setting. This new book will help you navigate the unique development issues and options and show you how to make all of the elements work together. You will learn about the economic and social forces driving this trend; how these projects are being developed in master planned communities, infill, and redevelopment areas; special regulatory, market and finance issues; and how suburban planners and developers are pursuing town center concepts to create attractive gathering places for their communities. Illustrat-ed in full color, the book includes case studies and examples that describe how leading professionals met the challenges and developed innovative and successful projects.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for Urban Planning!.......2007-01-10
I was put on to this book by a professor at USF School of Architecture. It contains not only the history of placemaking but real examples of placemaking and tools in how to achieve the notion of "place." Not only is this a great resource, but it is easy to read and follow along.
Highly reccomended!
Power and ample information and graphics.......2006-08-24
I found this book to be one of the best out on the topic, of which there are too few at present for such an important topic. The depth and breadth of place-making topics and their coverage makes this a very excellent easy-to-read-and-understand as well as a long-term reference tool. The graphics are very well done. Having recently attended a Harvard program on retail for cities and new towns and urban center given by Bob Gibbs and Terry Shook, I especially found the book right on target. I want to see more of these types of books.
Book Description
In his compelling follow-up to The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida outlines how certain cities succeed in attracting members of the "creative class"--the millions of people who work in information-age economic sectors and in industries driven by innovation and talent. Cities that succeed, Florida argues, are those that are able to attract and retain creative class members. They don't do this through the traditional strategies of tax incentives, suburban housing developments, and loose regulation, though; creative class members don't care about those details. Rather, they care about amenities and tolerance, and are drawn to cities with thriving bohemias and large gay populations. It is no coincidence, Florida asserts, that places likes Austin and San Francisco with their highly publicized open-mindedness and bohemia are at the forefront of the new economy, while cities like Detroit, in contrast, can't succeed unless they actively become a magnet for the creative class.
To prove his point, Florida presents a mass of information on the cities he cites, both thriving and failing cities, including gay and bohemian indices. Focusing on the economic geography of place, Florida explains lays out what cities need to do to have a chance at success.
Customer Reviews:
This book is lousy.......2005-03-03
My hunch is this is a cheap sequel. Not a lot of discussion, just a lot of (regression) results reporting. Extremely repetitive. Moreover, given that this often verves into being fairly social science (as opposed to pop), the causal linkages seem pretty poorly established. If you want to read this for professional reasons (social science or urban planning), most of this could be ignored; if you want to read this for personal (i.e., recreational) reasons, it's really boring.
Book Description
Promoters of multi-billion dollar land-use development megaprojects systematically misinform parliaments, the public and the media in order to get them approved and built. This book not only explores these issues, but suggests practical solutions drawing on theory and scientific evidence from the several hundred projects in twenty nations and five continents. It is of interest to students, scholars, planners, economists, auditors, politicians and concerned citizens.
Customer Reviews:
Packed with Knowledge!.......2004-03-02
Every once in a while a little book comes along that, while small in size, carries sufficient intellectual weight to strike the body politic between the eyes, thereby getting its collective attention. This may be one such book. It offers a realistic look at megaprojects - those major infrastructure endeavors that span vast bodies of water, dam natural resources to generate energy and extend rail lines to previously unreachable regions - and compares the promises of these projects to what they actually deliver. The report card isn't very good. Cost overruns are typically 25% to 100%, and sometimes 200% or more. Worse yet, studies show that the public tends to use megaprojects - be they airports or subway systems - only a fraction of the amount predicted. We strongly recommends this book to politicians, legislators and anyone who wants to know the truth behind these huge infrastructure projects, as well as to CEOs, CFOs, project managers and risk officers in the private sector - this applies to your projects, even if there is a difference of scale.
A fool, his money and the bridge that parted them..............2003-09-13
I am the first amazon.com reviewer of this short, but important book. It concerns me that this might reflect a diminished U.S. readership. That would be unfortunate. Professor Bent Flyvbjerg and his colleagues have written a book of significance to taxpayers everywhere. It's apparent that they have written this book largely for the policy-maker; yet, make no mistake about it: the ordinary taxpayer has a major stake in this book's message. The central characters in Megaprojects and Risk are three large-scale, European transportation projects: the Chunnel, the Great Belt and the Oresund. American readers unfamilar with these names (the chunnel connecting London and Paris is perhaps the most recognizable to American readers) will nonetheless recognize familiar features. Specifically, they will find project costs that exceed estimates, and revenue inflows that are below projections. The traits are not unique to these projects. In fact, cost over-runs and revenue disappointments are a familiar global refrain, according to these authors. In spite of this, the number and scale of infrastructure projects continues to grow, forming what they call the megaproject paradox. The book is stronger on documenting problems, including the lack of project post-audits, than on providing solutions. I think they have correctly identified the problem -- the lack of accountability throughout the project life-cycle -- but their solution, which largely involves ensuring a healthy segment of private capital not supported by state guarantees, together with more attention to genuine risk assessment, falls short of the mark. The risk assessment tools are firmly established and largely well-understood (Monte Carlo simulation packages are increasingly available). So is the "moral hazard" problem that rears its ugly head when projects (in this case) are "over-insured." The difficulty, which they acknowledge, is that the political interplay between state, private interests and NGOs are decisive in determining whether and to what extent the appropriate risk assessment and risk management tools are used.
This problem is inherent in the beast. Policy-makers would love for the private sector to shoulder the risk, but may not be willing to permit a commensurate return. Private players, just as understandably, are apt to seek insurance of one kind or another on the downside. The best medicine, and one that this book delivers admirably, is simply to raise our awareness of the track record from the start.
This short book has the look and feel of an academic work. It would, however, be unfortunate if it languished at the university bookstore. Global demographics dictate that larger-scale infrastructure investments are in our future. No one should pay for, promote or plan for such projects before they have digested the lessons in Megaprojects and Risk.
Average customer rating:
- A great read and also good as a course text!
- thought provouking
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Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated, Eco-logical Solutions
Janis Birkeland
Manufacturer: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
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ecoDesign: The SourcebookRevised Edition
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Green Design
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Experimental Eco-Design: Product, Architecture, Fashion
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Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
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Sustainable by Design: Explorations in Theory and Practice
ASIN: 1853838977 |
Book Description
"Design for Sustainability" signals the crucial paradigm shift of the 21st Century: the transition from "environmental management" to "systems design" - eco-solutions that integrate social, political, and economic factors and radically reduce resource use, while increasing health, equity and life quality.
By using radical and innovative design solutions, everyone could be living in buildings and settlements that are more like gardens than cargo containers, and that purify air and water, generate energy, treat sewage and produce food - at lower cost.
This sourcebook presents inspiring and detailed examples of integrated systems design thinking by many of the foremost designers in the field. They cover applications in industrial design, materials, housing design, urban planning and transport, landscape and agriculture, and energy and resource use. They cut across traditional academic and professional boundaries to demonstrate a new transdisciplinary approach to environmental problem solving.
The volume makes a very valuable reference and teaching resource in areas from environmental sciences to design and planning. Each of the 14 topics within the field of environmental management and social change have pairs of short readings providing diverse perspectives to compare, contrast and debate. Informational boxes, sets of questions and exercises are also provided.
Customer Reviews:
A great read and also good as a course text!.......2006-07-22
This type of book is well overdue. It covers both the theoretical and practical side of sustainable design and is very well set out. It is an excellent reference book and covers the full spectrum of sustainable design issues, which affect us all!
thought provouking.......2003-06-07
design for sustainability is defnitly a sourcebook for sustainable designers.it spanes through every aspect of our existance and ofers a new way of living it sustainably. from hemp clothes to earth building and even touches thinking patterns of design, giving the profetional designer not only eco-logical solutions but new perspectives to the process of design.
this book opened my mind to new pathes of thought and action.
Average customer rating:
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The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation: Contributions to Theory, Method and Measurement
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 3540631232 |
Book Description
Modern transportation systems have pervasive and far-reaching effects on society and the environment. Mobility and other benefits of modern transportation arrive with many, serious undesired consequences:deaths and injuries in transport accidents, pollution of air,water and groundwater,noise congestion, greenhouse gas emissions etc. Governments and markets both play critical roles in providing infrastructure and operating and policing transportation systems. As world transport systems expand and become increasingly motorized, the transportation community is searching for transportation systems that are both efficient and sustainable.In this book leading international researchers explore the issues and concepts and define the state of knowledge concerning transportation's full costs and benefits.
Book Description
In this provocative book Richard Sennett looks at the ways today’s global, ever-mutable form of capitalism is affecting our lives. He analyzes how changes in work ethic, in our attitudes toward merit and talent, and in public and private institutions have all contributed to what he terms “the specter of uselessness,” and he concludes with suggestions to counter this disturbing new culture.
“Hardly any social thinkers have given serious thought to the drastic changes in corporate culture wrought by downsizing, ‘re-orging,’ and outsourcing. Fortunately, the exception—Richard Sennett—is also one of the most insightful public intellectuals we have. In The Culture of the New Capitalism Sennett addresses the new corporate culture with his usual vast erudition, endlessly supple intellect, and firm moral outlook. The result is brilliant, disturbing, and absolutely necessary reading.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
“[Sennett] has brilliantly pushed his thinking. . . . [A] triumph.”—Will Hutton, The Observer
“Reflective, studded with sharp insights, moving with grace between big ideas and specific cases. This is vintage Sennett.”—Douglas W. Rae, author of City: Urbanism and Its End
“Packed with thought. . . . Profound and challenging. . . . [I am] full of admiration for the subtlety and originality of Richard Sennett’s work.”—Madeleine Bunting, New Statesman
Customer Reviews:
Mysteries of Corporate Mayhem Revealed!.......2006-11-27
Richard Sennett in THE CULTURE OF THE NEW CAPITALISM reflects upon the reactionary extirpation over the past three decades of the Western social capitalist state. Starting with a discussion of Bismarckian social capitalism which was founded on the model of the Prussian Army's highly successful bureaucracy and which provided structure and discipline to cultural relations, Sennett ends with a bleak meditation on the values encoded in the New Economy versus the Old. These include the elevation of process over craftsmanship, of "flexibility" over stability, of superficial over deep knowledge, and of centralized power over mediated authority. Along the way, Sennett shares pithy insights into the nature of this revolutionary shift and the cultural and economic dislocations it has caused.
Sennett states that three new pages were turned in the late twentieth century workplace. "First has been the shift from managerial to shareholder power in large companies." (pg. 37) This shift in power, according to Sennett turned a second new page: "The empowered investors wanted short-term rather than long-term results." The third new page representing a challenge to the past "lay in the development of new technologies of communication and manufacturing." He notes that "one consequence of the information revolution has...been to replace modulation and interpretation of commands by a new kind of centralization." (pg. 43) At the same time, automation, growing out of technological innovation "...has affected the [social capitalist] bureaucratic pyramid in one profound way: the base of the pyramid no longer needs to be big." (pg. 43). Circuits replace people.
According to Sennett, the old model, built on the pyramid model with a mass of workers at the bottom responding to a chain of command situated at the top is on the way out. In contrast, the new model he likens to an MP3 player: "The MP3 machine can be programmed to play only a few bands from its repertoire; similarly, the flexible organization can select and perform only a few of its many possible functions at any given time. In the old-style corporation, by contrast, production occurs via a fixed set of acts; the links in the chain are set. Again in an MP3 player, what you hear can be programmed in any sequence. In a flexible organization, the sequence of production can be varied at will." (pgs.47-48). (Notably, and perhaps inevitably, the new model got its start in the cutting edge businesses of finance, technology, pharma and media and their support industries: marketing research, advertising, and business consulting).
In a remarkable section on the shift in how employees are assessed - based on achievement in the old structure and "potential" in the new -- he shows how SAT testing supports the new regime. Sennett notes that "in the search to consummate the project of finding a [Jeffersonian] natural aristocracy, the mental life of human beings has assumed a surface and narrowed form. Social reference, sensate reasoning, and emotional understanding have been excluded from that search, just as have belief and truth. ...These [flexible] institutions ... privilege the kind of mental life embodied by consultants, moving from scene to scene, problem to problem, team to team. He says that "...this talent search cuts reference to experience and the chains of circumstance, eschews sensate impressions, divides analyzing from believing, ignores the glue of emotional attachment, penalizes digging deep--the state of living in pure process which the philosopher Zygmunt Bauman calls 'liquid modernity.'" (pgs. 120-122)
He notes that while citizen-workers might have been trapped in Max Weber's "iron cage" under the old system, nevertheless the structure gave its denizens a sense of meaning and was roughly consonant with general social values. In essence, Sennett says: "Time lay at the center of this military, social capitalism: long-term and incremental and above all predictable time." (pg. 23).
This new architecture, crafted by the business consultant class to whom agency is given by the new corporation, enables the exercise of enormous centralized power through new communications technology, and at the same time evades the responsibility of its recommendations, as do those who hire them. Bloodless terms like "flexible" workplaces," "off-shoring" and "right-shoring," "downsizing" and "right-sizing" are, for instance, deployed to mystify mass firings and those responsible for them.
The ideal worker in this paradigm is conceived to be flexible, cooperative, efficient and not get too involved in the nuts and bolts when doing problem-solving. Want ads looking for "entrepreneurs," and "self-starters" are emblematic of this shift. The ideal worker is most of all attuned to short-term shareholder values, values which insist on change. Whether the change is good or bad is almost irrelevant: change is in and of itself a signal to investors of impending short-term gains.
Sennett offers "five ways in which the consumer-spectator-citizen is turned away from progressive politics," each element of which arises from the culture of the new capitalism. He says that the consumer-spectator-citizen is "(1) offered political platforms which resemble product platforms and (2) gold-plated difference; (3) asked to discount 'the twisted timber of humanity (as Immanuel Kant called us), and (4) credit more user-friendly politics; (5) accept continually new political products on offer."(pg. 163). Summarizing these points, he says: "The culture of the new capitalism is attuned to singular events, one-off transactions, interventions; to progress, a polity needs to draw on sustained relationships and accumulate experience. In short, the unprogressive drift of the new culture lies in its shaping of time." (pg. 178).
In his last paragraph, Sennett attempts to end on a hopeful note: "What I have sought to explore in these pages is thus a paradox: a new order of power gained through and ever more superficial culture. Since people can anchor themselves in life only by trying to do something well for its own sake, the triumph of superficiality at work, in schools, and in politics seems to me fragile. Perhaps indeed, revolt against this enfeebled culture will constitute our next fresh page."
I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath.
Working in the New Economy.......2006-05-09
As a member of the New Left in the 1960's, Richard Sennett was a young radical railing against big corporations and big government. He was also critical of state socialism for being just another bureaucratic system holding the individual in its suffocating grip. That was then, now the bureaucracies have been delayered and flattened out. It's management by email.
As the old saw goes: Be careful what you ask for. In "The Culture of New Capitalism," Sennett seems somewhat nostalgic for the security and rewarding work that bureaucracies once provided. The dismantling of large-scale institutions did not result in the communities of trust and solidarity for which the radicals had hoped. Instead, they left modern day workers in very fragmented and ambiguous working conditions.
According to Sennett, these conditions came about in the 1970's and have accelerated since. After the breakdown of the Bretton Woods agreement, capital markets became globalized. Corporate managers became more concerned about increasing short term value - higher share price - and less concerned about the long-term welfare of their employees. Over the years wages have stagnated and benefits have been reduced. In short, "the new capitalism" or "new economy" of which he speaks has been reconfigured to give an increasing amount of wealth to shareholders rather than employees.
What effect this has had on the workplace is the focus of this study. The target industries of this study were high technology, finance, and media, but what has taken place there foreshadows what is happening in other industries and also the public sector.
First, Sennett finds that employees must learn how to manage short-term relationships; corporations no longer provide a long-term framework. Second, the modern workplace values a meritocracy of potential abilities rather than craftsmanship developed over a long period of time. And finally, one must learn how to let go of the past and accept the fact that one's place in the corporation is no longer guaranteed. To sum up, the ideal worker in the new economy is someone who must think in the short term, constantly develop their potential and not look over their shoulder.
That's great if you are young, unattached, wealthy, and well educated. However, if you are middle-class, middle-aged, and have multiple responsiblities, it's a cruel world.
For nearly a generation, globalization has brought downward pressure on unskilled wages, but now - thanks to technological innovations - it is bringing downward pressure on skilled wages as well. Never before has capitalism had unlimited access to labor. There has been a race to the bottom in search of lower wages.
Americans seem to have resigned themselves to the vicissitudes of the global labor markets; the Europeans and the Japanese have been less sanguine, or a least more protective of their lifestyles. It may be that Americans believe free markets are an intrinsic good. I believe that at some point there will be a backlash against outsourcing and offshoring, and that this book may be prescient. As Sennett rightly notes, free markets do not necessarily translate into more freedom for individuals.
Average customer rating:
- A pretty good textbook with material not found elsewhere
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The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and International Trade
Masahisa Fujita ,
Paul Krugman , and
Anthony J. Venables
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Economics of Agglomeration: Cities, Industrial Location, and Regional Growth
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Market Structure and Foreign Trade: Increasing Returns, Imperfect Competition, and the International Economy
ASIN: 0262062046 |
Book Description
Since 1990 there has been a renaissance of theoretical and empirical work on the spatial aspects of the economy--that is, where economic activity occurs and why. Using new tools--in particular, modeling techniques developed to analyze industrial organization, international trade, and economic growth--this "new economic geography" has emerged as one of the most exciting areas of contemporary economics.
The authors show how seemingly disparate models reflect a few basic themes, and in so doing they develop a common "grammar" for discussing a variety of issues. They show how a common approach that emphasizes the three-way interaction among increasing returns, transportation costs, and the movement of productive factors can be applied to a wide range of issues in urban, regional, and international economics. This book is the first to provide a sound and unified explanation of the existence of large economic agglomerations at various spatial scales.
Customer Reviews:
A pretty good textbook with material not found elsewhere.......1999-07-21
If you are considering buying this book, you will probably want to do so. If you are interested in applying regional analysis or the "new" spatial economics that they present, you will have a good starting point. The necessary background is probably be a year of Ph.D. level economic theory. Specific high points are the exposition of the Dixit-Stiglitz model of monopolistic competition and the evolution of urban systems. All new Ph.D. students will have a use for chapter 4, which is an easy-to-read discussion of monopolistic competition. Further, the book is rigorous enough to be used in academic work. I recommend it to anyone interested in regional or urban economics. It is useful to students and practicing economists alike. Its rigor makes it academic, but its ease of exposition makes it useful for those without extraordinary math backgrounds. Compared to similar books, you get a lot of value for the price.
Book Description
The
Third Edition of
Cities in a World Economy shows how certain characteristics of our turn-of-the-millennium flows of money, information, and people have led to the emergence of a new social formation: global cities. These developments give new meaning to such fixtures of urban sociology as the centrality of place and the importance of geography in our social world.
Key Features:
- Offers a multidisciplinary perspective: This book features a cross-disciplinary approach to Urban Sociology using global examples. With both depth and clarity, this book examines the impact of global processes on the social structure of cities helping students increase their world awareness. In addition, the book strikes the perfect balance between maintaining academic rigor and employing new and innovative concepts.
- Includes a new chapter: The new chapter on Global Cities and Global Survival Circuits discusses the highly gendered and unequal nature of the global city and how it forces the underprivileged to live a dangerous and unpredictable life on global survival circuits.
- Incorporates the most recent data: This new edition updates nearly every piece of data with the most recent facts and figures available. In addition, this book introduces new concepts for understanding contemporary urban sociology.
Intended Audience:
This is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Urban Sociology. It can also be used in courses such as Urban Studies, World Cities, Regional Studies, Urban Development and Planning, and Regional Development in the departments of Sociology, Urban Studies, and Geography.
Customer Reviews:
Good for general information on a new economic order.......1999-06-21
I've read the book due to an examination about "the new city structure - contemporary geography" and it's quite good, she has a global wiew of the new city-status and its new users, the less and less importance the homless has for the city governament and the new power of the corporation, all in all a good compendium if you need to improve your knoledge about the matter.
Book Description
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Second Edition is a vital book for anyone involved in architectural design, space management, and urban planning. The concepts presented in this book explain the link between design and human behavior. Understanding this link can enable a planner to use natural environmental factors to minimize loss and crime and to maximize productivity.
This practical guide addresses several environmental settings, including major event facilities, small retail establishments, downtown streets, residential areas, and playgrounds. A one-stop resource with explanations of criminal behavior and the historical aspects of design, it teaches both the novice and the expert in crime prevention how to use the environment to affect human behavior in a positive manner.
Fully updated with substantial new material in each chapter
Useful illustrations describe the design and layout concepts in an easy to understand manner
Written by a well-qualified author in the field of crime prevention
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read For Practitioners.......2003-09-20
The CPTED Strategies introduced and well laid out in this book, establish a foundation for creative target hardening and risk transference.
To suggest as one critic does, that this is "low level" stuff is to miss the point entirely.
As a security consultant, I have applied these concepts to a variety of corporate settings with positive results.
If someone is simply looking for standard "templates" without the capacity to creatively apply the ideals this is not the book.
If you are serious about your work, it is essential.
A pedestrian approach to security design.......2001-12-07
This book has pretty low level info.
If you are looking for ways to secure a high level executive's office suite using the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, forget it. The examples in this book are more at the level of bus stops.
Hopefully the authors will update their information with modern design scenarios.
Books:
- The Science of Getting Rich
- The Unconscious Civilization
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (2nd edition) (Thin Book Series)
- Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
- Understanding Business
- Value-at-Risk: Theory and Practice
- Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America (Institutional Structures of Feeling)
- Wealth and Poverty (Ics Series in Self-Governance)
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