In an article published by The Wall Street Journal called For Creative Cities, the Sky Has Its Limit, Richard Florida discusses the development of urban environments and their relative successes. As human migrations are trending towards big cities, the design and appropriation of space within these cities is increasingly important. Florida cites that trends indicate that by 2050 cities will make up 70% of the global population. With so many people, elevate density within cities will be unavoidable, but what Florida emphasizes is that it isn’t just density that makes a vibrant and thriving city. Citing Shanghai and New York City as examples of dense urban environments, Florida explains the differences in their relative architectural and urban developments and the prosperity that follows. The fundamental difference? The prevalence of mixed-use neighborhoods in New York City that overpower the innovation of strictly financial districts of either New York or Shanghai.
Let’s look at these examples after the break.
The density of big cities provides the man power and diversity that inspires innovation and creative force in the industry. But, Florida points out that the rush to density and the rush to build taller and taller buildings actually nullifies the innovation that a large population can produce. These giant buildings, writes Florida, operate as vertical suburbs. They create very specific, specialized pathways along which people travel that isolate functions and uses and “mute” the “street life”, a term used by Jane Jacobs in The Death and Life of Great American Cities to describe the spontaneous interactions that occur along a busy street that has a variety of uses by many different people.
