#superstar cities

[urbangeographies]

SUPERSTAR CITIES:  The growing gap between cities

Writing for Reuters, Howard Schneider cites Nashville as an example of how some new winners in the post-recession economic landscape have emerged, besides familiar superstar cities like San Francisco or New York. 

But the reasons behind Nashville's success cannot necessarily be duplicated (i.e., there was luck involved with Nashville's winning). Many other cities are left behind the superstars that bask in success.

The divide between winning and losing U.S. cities (and between urban and rural settings as well) helped elevate Trump the White House. This continuing trend challenges the long-term prospects for recovery in parts of the country.

FULL STORY:

As U.S. 'superstar' cities thrive, weaker ones get left behind

Published on Friday, July 19, 2019 in Reuters

[brandondonnelly]

Crane capital of America

When people like Richard Florida talk about today’s “superstar cities”, the usual suspects include London and New York for finance, the San Francisco Bay Area for tech, Milan for fashion and design, and so on.

And you can certainly find the data to back up these claims. For instance, if you look at venture capital dollars invested, many of these same cities reappear near the top: San Francisco, San Jose, New York, etc.

One city that doesn’t often appear on these sorts of lists, though, is Seattle. 

However, clearly something special is taking place in the city. For the second year in a row, Seattle has been named the construction crane capital of America. No other American city comes close right now. (However, Toronto is still #1 in North America.)

At the same time, if you think about all of the companies that have come out of Seattle over the years, you start to realize that maybe VC dollars invested isn’t enough to tell the entire entrepreneurial story.

Venture capitalist Fred Wilson once said on his blog that if you look at dollars in and dollars out, Seattle outperforms -- by a lot. And that’s very interesting to me. Is this simply the lasting legacy of Microsoft? Or are there other -- transferable -- lessons to be learned here?

[publicsq]

In this framework, house prices do not rise in superstar cities because there is increasing value from amenities or productivity benefits. Instead, the composition of families living in superstar cities shifts to those who are willing to pay more as high-income families become more numerous.

'Superstar Cities' - Joseph Gyourko, Christopher Mayer, and Todd Sinai