Hi. Rich Florida here. It's really great to have all of you in this class exploring really what cities do, what cities are, why they matter, and why they matter to you. I figured this was a good time, you know, now that we're in the second week of the course. We've kind of covered why cities are important and why they matter. Now we're talking about kind of a world of cities. How cities across the world are becoming more important. All these billions of people pouring into cities. I thought to be a great time to just check in and see how you're doing. And I know some of you have had questions and there's been a tremendous amount of really great activity, fantastic conversation on discussion forums. But I thought it would a great time for us to check in, discuss some of these questions, and just see where you're at and give you some of my perspectives as you move forward in our course. So I wanted to cover today a couple of questions that have come in from folks in the course. And I don't want to spend a lot, I mean, I could, you know. I'm a professor. I come from the Fidel Castro School of Public Speaking. I could be, you know, giving you a lecture forever but I just want to focus on a couple of questions that folks have asked. So one question that came from one of the learners in the course is, what do I think about this idea of a city as an aggregator of activity and an expander of activity. I actually think that's a brilliant way to think about it. I don't exactly use those words. I use different words. City as a platform, city as an organizing unit. But I think it gets to the nub of it. On the one hand, when you think about it in the older economy it was companies, firms, industries that were the aggregators of human activity. They connected a whole bunch of jobs to be done, task to be done, to people to do them. Now in fact, the city is the aggregator. It collects different firms. It collects different companies. It brings to get the people. And in a way the city itself is what matches people to jobs, task that need to be done to people. And obviously, you know, I'm a huge fan of Jane Jacobs. We were reading her work in the course. Cities by their very nature if they're going to be successful are expanders. They make us- when we come together in a city people, they make us more productive. When we rub shoulders, and clash in clamor, and combine and recombine our efforts, we produce new innovations. So in many ways cities expand economic activity. In fact, Jane Jacobs use that very term. She said that what made cities different than other kinds of economic units and social units is that they actually helped to expand or make human activity more expansive so. So I guess what I'm saying is you're absolutely right, that cities in our present day function as tremendous platforms, aggregators, and expanders of human activity, innovative activity, and economic activity. Another question that came in from one of our learners is we've we focused on what cities do. They bring people together. They create innovative activity. They spur productivity. They add to our culture. And then the flip side of that it is, what is it that cities don't do? When I think about what cities don't do is in a way, in a way they stimulate human activity. But in some ways that people who are being left behind, somehow cities left to their own devices don't do enough to capture that human energy, that human spirit, that human impetus. And, you know, as we go through the course in a couple of weeks, we'll be talking about the divides. The divides that happen between successful cities, I call them the winner take all, and less successful cities. The divides that happen between successful advantage people in neighborhoods, and neighborhoods that are being larger and larger numbers that are being left behind. I'll often defer to Jane Jacobs who is really the greatest urbanist of all time, and a big inspiration and mentor to me. She said one of the things that we focus too much on is poverty. And we consider poverty a kind of class of activity as if people elect or somehow are occupied, or channeled into poverty. She said what cities don't do. She said poverty is the absence of economic development. Poverty is what happens is when there's no real economic activity to attach to it. "It's the cold" she called. "It's the cold of having economic activity absent from your life". So I think one of the things we have to work on in cities is how do we rev that economic engine. How do we create the heat. How do we create economic development that begins to not only confer advantages to the already advantage, but lift many more people up. So I think one of the things cities don't do enough and where we have to help cities, and it's a big subject of this course and of my own research, is how do we make cities move from a winner-take-all system to an urbanism for all. How do we make cities help cities become more inclusive in the kind of prosperity they generate. So that all city residents, not just an advantage few, can participate and benefit from what cities actually do. You know, really what I'd like to say to everyone is I hope you're enjoying the class and I hope you're having fun in the class. You know, my goal in this is not to force feed you information or force feed your reading. It's really to help you understand your love and passion, and belief in cities. I really believe fundamentally that we engage with the subject because we become passionate about it and become emotionally attached to it. I think more and more of us feel that way. I certainly feel that way about cities. But that's what I hope is happening in this class and please, you know, send us your questions. I like to read them, and I like the feedback. Send us the things you love about the course and also send us things that you think aren't working. Because, you know, we really believe in continuous improvement. We want to make this course better. We want to make this course better for you and for future generations of learning who should take the course so. The most important thing you can do is have fun and send us whatever kind of feedback you think we need. And thanks so much for joining us as this incredible journey to understand the city and what it means for you.
