[iDC] Crisis of value and the ethical economy

[john sobol]

On 3-Sep-09, at 4:06 AM, Adam Arvidsson wrote:

> Even Richard Florida, whose theories of the 'creative class' stood  
> at the heart of the gentrification-driven real estate boom that  
> preceded the present crisis now proclaims that  '[t]he housing  
> bubble was the ultimate expression, and perhaps the last gasp, of  
> an economic system some 80 years in the making, and now well past  
> its "sell-by date" (Florida, 2009:9).
>

Good lord. That is about as profound a misreading of Florida's ideas  
and their impact as I can imagine.  The recent real estate boom/ 
bubble/bust was NOT gentrification-driven (!) and in any event  
Florida's ideas had absolutely nothing to do with it. Moreover, while  
Richard Florida's theories of the creative class are certainly tied  
to urban redevelopment, they explicitly address the negative  
consequences of gentrification and insist instead on new intervention  
strategies that eliminate the displacement of local communities even  
as they build local wealth.

--
John Sobol

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