THE GREAT RESET: HOW NEW WAYS OF LIVING AND WORKING By Richard Florida -- PART 3

THE GREAT RESET: HOW NEW WAYS OF LIVING AND WORKING
By Richard Florida

Review by Steve Wright

Author Richard Florida is a big fan of alternate transportation -- anything from bicycles to safe pedestrian routes to better local and regional trains.

Florida reasons that even if more people are telecommuting, they still will benefit from the ability to conduct commerce by transportation means far less costly and restrictive than the automobile.

The Great Reset says young people, the innovators who will drive our human creativity-based new economy, already are forming new attitudes toward ownership that are less centered on houses and cars.

Florida makes said connectivity will be key to our economic future. He envies European and other nations that are far ahead of the U.S. in terms of high speed rail.

He states that Boston-New York-Washington have already become a super-productive mega-region because of relatively fast trains that connect the densely-populate cities.

Economic figures prove our that these mega-regions have a much higher economic output per capita when compared to sprawled areas.

Florida believes high speed rail could be a key toward reinvigorating the Great Lakes/rust belt region.

Chicago and Pittsburgh -- cities that have successfully shaken off their industrial pasts to become high-tech, high creativity centers -- could help uplift their still-struggling post-industrial neighbors, such as Detroit and Cleveland, with high speed rail connectivity.

Secondly, rail connectivity within the mega-regions.

There are the fast trains along the Boston/New York/Washington corridor that have allowed Washington, in effect, to become a commuter suburb of greater New York.

If you buy into Florida's theories, it is extremely disheartening that several governors and other politicians elected earlier this month are making noise about rejecting billions of dollars of transit funding.

Whether you accept all of Florida's ideas or not, you will enjoy his wit, vigor and clear writing that turns the most mind-numbing of economic research into a feast of thought for the future.

We highly recommend The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive the Post-Crash Prosperity.

Wright is the author of 5,000 published articles on urban life, architecture, public policy, planning and design. He is active in working to make sure universal design, which provides barrier-free access to people with disabilities, is incorporated to the essential and rapidly-evolving practice of sustainability.

RESOURCES

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Great-Reset-Richard-Florida/?isbn=9780061937194

http://www.creativeclass.com/