The Revitalist

5th Avenue at lunch time, March 2005

The percentage of people living in cities is growing, and some economists theorize that globalization and consumer choice are the reasons why. Harvard's Edward Glaeser suggests that as the world economy changes, cities are becoming profit centers of the knowledge economy, and therefore attracting people in droves (this, as opposed to, the decline of cities in the 1970's and 80's as the industrial economy moved elsewhere). "New York's advantage has been to be competitive in the knowledge economy - particularly, in finance - where the city as an economic unit has a comparative advantage, with all its cross-fertilization of ideas." The second part of Glaeser's theory is that people are choosing an urban lifestyle because of the plethora of consumer choices offered. "The sovereignty of the consumer is inescapable." While those choosing to be urban consumers are vastly outnumbered by the economic immigrants, the consumers have disproportionate influence of the shape of the city because of their relative wealth. All About Cities blogger Wendy Waters calls this "consumerist urbanism": "certain cities that embody these values seem to attract people from the world over."

Of course, Richard Florida linked to this article on his blog because it aligns so well with his Creative Class theory. Cities will need to meet the desires of these urban consumers, many of whom are the leaders of the knowledge economy. By providing the leading edge of consumers with the lifestyle elements (mainly diversity of choice) they want, the city will ultimately be able to provide more jobs and economic growth all the way down the pyramid.