About this Book

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We tend to view prolonged economic downturns, such as the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Long Depression of the late nineteenth century, in terms of the crisis and pain they cause. But history teaches us that these great crises also represent opportunities to remake our economy and society and to generate whole new eras of economic growth and prosperity. In terms of innovation, invention, and energetic risk taking, these periods of "creative destruction" have been some of the most fertile in history, and the changes they put into motion can set the stage for full-scale recovery.

In The Great Reset, bestselling author and economic development expert Richard Florida provides an engaging and sweeping examination of these previous economic epochs, or "resets." He distills the deep forces that have altered physical and social landscapes and eventually reshaped economies and societies. Looking toward the future, Florida identifies the patterns that will drive the next Great Reset and transform virtually every aspect of our lives — from how and where we live, to how we work, to how we invest in individuals and infrastructure, to how we shape our cities and regions. Florida shows how these forces, when combined, will spur a fresh era of growth and prosperity, define a new geography of progress, and create surprising opportunities for all of us. Among these forces will be

* new patterns of consumption, and new attitudes toward ownership that are less centered on houses and cars
* the transformation of millions of service jobs into middle class careers that engage workers as a source of innovation
* new forms of infrastructure that speed the movement of people, goods, and ideas
* a radically altered and much denser economic landscape organized around "megaregions" that will drive the development of new industries, new jobs, and a whole new way of life

We've weathered tough times before. They are a necessary part of economic cycles, giving us a chance to clearly see what's working and what's not. Societies can be reborn in such crises, emerging fresh, strong, and refocused. Now is our opportunity to anticipate what that brighter future will look like and to take the steps that will get us there faster.

With his trademark blend of wit, irreverence, and rigorous research and analysis, Florida presents an optimistic and counterintuitive vision of our future, calling into question long-held beliefs about the nature of economic progress and forcing us to reassess our very way of life. He argues convincingly that it's time to turn our efforts — as individuals, as governments, and as a society — to putting the necessary pieces in place for a vibrant, prosperous future.

Extras

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Imagine living in the mid–nineteenth century. Whether in Europe or in North America, people overwhelmingly lived in the countryside, on a small farm, or in a small town. The typical family grew most of its own food and raised its own livestock, taking whatever surplus it might generate to the nearest market town for sale or barter. The cities of the period were small, even tiny, by today’s standards, no more than a few miles around and all but the very largest housing perhaps 50,000 or 100,000 people. In the 1860s, eight of ten people in the United States lived in rural areas, with less than 20 percent living in urban centers. America’s five largest cities, all along the East Coast, were New York, with 813,000 people; Philadelphia, with 565,000; Brooklyn, with 266,000; Baltimore, home to 212,000; and Boston, with 177,000. The future great industrial cities of Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit each held less than 50,000 people. When the economic crisis of 1873 hit, not a single American city was home to a million people.
 
Great Resets are defined not just by innovation but by massive movements of people. Such shifts of people are essential to creating a new, more productive landscape. During the First Reset, as the last chapter has shown, major industries such as railroads, petroleum, and steel were consolidated, new industries and new systems innovations took shape, and the way was paved for a period of remarkable industrial growth. By the turn of the twentieth century, the economic landscape was also transformed. Between 1870 and 1900, the populations of urban areas exploded. New York City’s population more than tripled, rising from 942,000 to 3.4 million people. Philadelphia expanded from 550,000 to 1.3 million people, and Chicago swelled from 300,000 to 1.3 million. Manufacturing employment in these three cities grew by 245 percent over the same period.4 The period also saw the rise of a new set of massive industrial cities. Pittsburgh grew from 86,000 people in 1870 to more than 320,000 in 1900; Detroit from 79,000 to 285,000; Cleveland from 92,000 to 382,000. Across the nation, the number of Americans living in urban areas surged by more than 20 million, as the share of the population counted as urban rose from 25 to 40 percent.

Review Quotes

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“With a historian’s grand sweep and a geographer’s keen eye for place, Richard Florida shows us how the cycles of capitalism have built and rebuilt the farms, cities, and suburbs that define America. This timely and thought-provoking book gives us important insights into the reshaping of America’s economic and physical landscape.”
— Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University
 
“The Great Reset shows how new technology and the new geographies of living and working come together to drive recovery. . . . Must reading for anyone who wants to understand where we are now and where we are headed.”
— Chris Anderson, editor, Wired magazine
 

Praise for Richard Florida: 
“Few people provide greater clarity on the importance of place in the knowledge-driven economy than Richard Florida.”
— Robert D. Yaro, president, Regional Plan Association, New York
 
“Florida’s work is challenging many of the verities of the field.”
— Salon.com
 
“A pioneering cartographer of talent.”
— Fast Company
 
“Never before have I seen anyone capture so succinctly the values and desires of the new ‘creative class’ and the essence of human capital and the creative ethos.”
— John Seely Brown, former director, PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)

Reader Reviews

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"I was privileged to have the opportunity to read Richard Florida's The Great Reset prior to its publication and consider it to be his most important, most valuable book...thus far. He identifies and examines various "new ways of living and working" that will "drive post-crash prosperity" within and beyond the United States. Throughout his lively and eloquent narrative, he focuses on the key elements during the Long Depression in the 1870s, the Great Depression in the 1930s, and the current period during which emerging tendencies suggest yet another Great Reset, an epoch of severe crisis and disruptive change. In the final chapter, Florida provides several "basic guiding principles" based on lessons learned from past Resets "that can help us move toward a more sustainable and prosperous future." I highly recommend this book to anyone who shares my need to gain a better understanding both of the process by which capitalism in the U.S. has evolved during the past 140 years and of its impact on where people live and work. The Great Reset is a brilliant achievement. Bravo!"
– Robert Morris

Related Links

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Visit Richard Florida's website

Table of Contents

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Preface
 
Part I: Past as Prologue
1. The Great Reset
2. The Crisis Most Like Our Own
3. Urbanism as Innovation
4. The Most Technologically Progressive Decade
5. Suburban Solution
6. The Fix Is In
7. Unraveling
 
Part II: Redrawing the Economic Map
8. Capital of Capital
9. Who’s Next?
10. Fire Starter
11. Big Government Boomtowns
12. Death and Life of Great Industrial Cities
13. Northern Light
14. Sun Sets on the Sunbelt
 
Part III: A New Way of Life
15. The Reset Economy
16. Good Job Machine
17. The New Normal
18. The Great Resettle
19. Big, Fast, and Green
2 0. The Velocity of You
2 1. Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
2 2. Renting the Dream
2 3. Resetting Point
 
Acknowledgments
References
Index

About this Author

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RICHARD FLORIDA is one of the world's leading public intellectuals. Currently Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor of Business and Creativity — both at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto — he is also founder of the Creative Class Group, an advisory services firm, charting new trends in business and community. Author of such bestsellers as The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City?, he has written articles for the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review and the Boston Globe. He has also been appointed to the Business Innovation Factory's Research Advisory Council and serves as European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.