Richard Florida
@Richard_Florida
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Visiting Distinguished Professor @VanderbiltU @vanderbiltowen University Professor @UofT, @rotmanschool, @UofTCities, Visiting Senior Fellow @kresgefnd
Global
Joined November 2008
"With nearly 195mn followers, he is America’s most influential purveyor of disinformation. In total he has made 50 posts since January 1 that have been debunked by independent fact checkers . These were viewed 1.2bn times."
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This is exactly right. Phase 1: Social/ Physical Distancing for 4-8 weeks to flatten the curve .Phase 2: A New Normal Returns in Summer.Phase 3: Massive/ Universal Testing & Isolation of those with the virus combined with better therapies.Phase 4: Vaccine.
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CBC is projecting a Liberal government, Trudeau win . .
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Just think about how much more damage will be inflicted in three more years. It is almost like purposeful destruction of every asset in the knowledge economy .
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"We can either lockdown until we have a vaccine (12–18 months), or we can ramp up free widespread testing (1 month) and get back to business." h/t: @Noahpinion:.
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"Trump will have to face the law he violated and violated and violated again." .
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1. Trump's immigration insanity threatens the very core of America's innovative edge - the ability to attract global talent.
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1. We are undergoing several nested transformations at once that are causing incredible disruptions of the economic social & political order.
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"The Russian government awarded Mr. Tillerson the country’s Order of Friendship decoration" .
Exxon Mobil chief emerges as Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state
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It’s the commute … not the office ….
Happiness with WFH directly related to length of commute. Survey by @HUBBLE_space HT @axios . Takeaways:.#SMP1 plan buildings and transport together (routine life doesn't require a car!) More/safer bike/walk infrastructure. Biking is the happiest mode
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"In June 2020, Zillow Group . announced that employees could move anywhere in the country & never return to an office. The company now has more than 300 employees living in New York City, a 15% increase compared with two years earlier.".
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1. I have been a professor for almost 40 years now. Let me give you my perspective on what I think has happened on the political/ideological orientation university campuses that seems to have reached a recent boiling point.
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11. The 20 finalists would be well-served by making a pact to NO INCENTIVES. These mayors and economic professionals know one another & can do it. One of a number of professional organizations could sponsor.
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15. The great failure of our time is the failure of the left to outline a inclusive future in this new age of urbanized knowledge capitalism.
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in BOTH parties, across the board . History will remember those who stayed quiet .
Trump again inflicting damage on our democratic norms before even taking office. People of conscience must speak up
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Toronto’s ravines may be my favorite place in the world. The juxtaposition of the natural and built environment or should I say their integration, is to me the greatest thing about Toronto. I can’t think of any city that does this better.
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9. Any way you slice it, a bad day for Ontario & Toronto . .
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1. Amazon has shown its true colors. It refuses to deal reasonably with its hometown of Seattle or any community that asks for it to pay its freight. This is abusive & shows how awful the entire process was & is.
BREAKING: After saying it won't build part of HQ2 in NYC, Amazon adds that it does not intend to re-open the search process and will only "proceed in northern Virginia and Nashville" at this time.
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@USATODAY This is fantastic. Will you publish the lists. Who is a member, who has resigned?.
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"We are learning that hospitals might be the main Covid-19 carriers . They are rapidly populated by infected patients, facilitating transmission to uninfected patients.”.
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2. Even if the ban is lifted, the system has been shocked and global talent put on alert.
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Here's a map of Coronavirus vulnerability from Bert Sperling, based on density, age, obesity, diabetes, hospitals, ICU beds, and population .
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Upside of Trump: He is knocking the shit out of American complacency, & causing wide swaths of people to become politically engaged . .
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PAY ATTENTION CITIES!!!!.“A bicycle, for me, was the only way to get around the city. If I wanted to meet some of my friends, travel across the city, go to school, play basketball—anything—the bicycle was the way I got around.”.
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I remember being in Paris say 4 years ago with a small child & thinking how nuts the cars were. What an incredible change for the better.
If you think your city will never change, watch this before/after video of Paris by @Jamesdestafford.
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This is from the person who wrote the history of concentration camps .
Yes, of course they're concentration camps. They aren't the unique subset of death camps that were invented by the Nazis for genocide, or even Arctic Gulag camps built for hard labor. But they're camps created to punish a whole class of civilians via mass detention without trial.
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Toronto has 97 cranes. Sydney 346. Dubai 1182 . .
Seattle is the tower-crane capital of America for the third year in a row — by far. Bellevue is no slouch, either.
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Ask Yourself: Why is it that North American cities cannot do this?.
We were pedalling side-by-side today, when it suddenly it hit us:. After 16 months of living in the Netherlands, we haven’t once felt unsafe, uncomfortable, or unwelcome while cycling. Not because drivers are better behaved. Because streets are designed to minimize their threat.
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Even stranger, I feel melancholy about returning to the old normal. I have forged much deeper connection to family & friends. I have gotten off the rat race. I found something deeper in this strange pandemic life that I am not sure I want to give up . .
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1. Race to the Bottom - That is another possible take/implication of what is happening with the rise of remote work & the geographic shifts being accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic . One we are not hearing enough about . .
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With the beautiful weather, I have been cycling regularly in Toronto. The conditions are beyond appalling. Worse than I remembered or imagine. This is a terrible crisis. More people will be hurt. The city's leadership is disgraceful on this.
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1. I want to try to put Doug Ford's win of the Ontario PC party in some context especially for American observers of Canada.
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Here is my view on university encampments. I fully support the right to protest. But a university campus is no place for an encampment of any kind for any agenda. It threatens some and impedes the rights of many. It can invite in bad actors & outsiders with their own agendas and.
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7. My real fear is that by simply coming this far Doug Ford i will now take away any advantage Toronto or Ontario have had in competing for American tech projects & chill the climate for US tech investment . .
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We shouldn’t mourn the loss of the central business district, giant retail complexes, or commercial office towers. Let’s use the opportunity to rebuild cities & suburbs around much more integrated 15 minute neighborhoods. And do so in ways that are far more inclusive & resilient.
I don’t believe it myself. But if you came back from the future and told me 50-story office buildings primarily used by people with long commutes were the next department stores, I wouldn’t be totally shocked:
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We are witnessing the end of America's long run at attracting the world's top global talent. That will be among Trump's various legacies .
Australia’s most popular children’s author was detained and interrogated for two hours at LAX
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Say what you want about social media. But I still find this twitter to be one of the best modes of idea exchange of any. I find debates to be civil, interesting & exciting.
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Today’s Biden victory stands as one of the three biggest impact events of my life alongside JFK’s assassination and 911.
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"That a trillion-dollar company run by the world’s richest man could run an American Idol auction on more than 230 cities & pick up a handy $3 billion of taxpayer money in the process, is a sad statement of extreme corporate power in our time.”
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6. It's like a Trumpist populist running for Governor of a large American Blue State, like California, NY or Massachusetts. That's what makes it especially scary.
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Income inequality does not explain the rise of Trumpism/ populism, geographic inequality + racism does . .
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Here’s some advice to @Amazon @jeffbezos Give the incentive money back - you don’t need it and the potential brand damage is too great. Pledge to be a good corporate citizen & contribute to affordable housing, workforce development & transit.
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#Sochi Medals per 10 million people: Norway 26 .Slovenia 19.Latvia 15 .Switzerland 9.Sweden 8.Canada 3.5.Russia 1.USA 0.5.
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I think about this everytime someone says people are leaving cities. The reality is the super-rich are gobbling this up. Prices are stratospheric. As I like to put it, many families would gladly trade their suburban homes lovely 3-4-5 bedroom city townhomes at a similar price.
There is pent up market demand in USA for areas like what is pictured below. They can't be built anymore in any major metro due to legal obstructions, and thus the value gets "bid up" endlessly. If legalized, developers would waste no time in meeting this demand.
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The tip of the proverbial iceberg. Wait until the lagged effects show up in a couple of decades .
Colleges from all over the United States are reporting a drop in the number of international student applications.
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Miami’s mayor on Hurricane Irma: "If this isn’t climate change, I don’t know what is."
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For starters . Reduce speed limits.Take away licenses for excessive speeding.Install pedestrian right-of-way cross walks.Eliminate right on red.Stagger light changes to enable peds to cross ahead of traffic.Install a real bike lane system.
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Make American Less Innovative Again . .
This is bad. ICE just told students here on student visas that if their school is going online-only this fall, the students must depart the United States and cannot remain through the fall semester.
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3. Recall that his brother Rob Ford ran and won as mayor of Toronto. That alone is like having a Trumpist as mayor of say NY or LA . .
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Exactly. It is shocking & disgraceful .
.@MAXBOOT: Trump bragged about obstruction of justice-I'm stunned GOP's basically taking it #AMJoy #LetComeySpeak
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Even when he loses, Trump is a huge stain on America's character. I feel sick watching this . .
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Compare to average household size. 1930: 4.1 people.1950: 3.7.1950: 3.3.1980: 2.8.1990: 2.6.2017: 2.5. In 1930, average person had 255 SF of space. In 2017, average person has four times as much - 1063 SF!.
Average floor area of a new single-family home:. 1920: 1,048 square feet.1930: 1,129.1940: 1,177.1950: 983.1960: 1,289.1970: 1,500.1980: 1,740.1990: 2,080.2000: 2,266.2010: 2,392.2014: 2,657. Free life advice: you don't need all that space.
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WOW. This from Amazon's Director of Economic Development. Illuminating on several different levels . .
Memo to the genius leaking info about Crystal City, VA as #HQ2 selection. You’re not doing Crystal City, VA any favors. And stop treating the NDA you signed like a used napkin.
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12. @amazon should recalibrate and say it does not want incentives & will work as a partner with these communities to address their issues & challenges of affordable housing, transit, low wage jobs etc.
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11. Students would come to my classes or my office and tell me they wanted to help make cities better - more innovative, productive & inclusive - but other classes they were taking basically were teaching this was all gentrification.
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.@ranaflorida & I just got a visit from Canadian public health authorities checking on our quarantine. We are now being observed doing our Day 8 online Covid test. We are both fully vaccinated. Is it crazy to think such precious public health resources could be put to better use.
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1. This is something we turned up in research on Toronto too. We found mental disorders cut across almost every socio-economic category, save for one group: recent immigrants.
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1. Few surprises on the #AmazonHQ2 Shortlist: .Atlanta.Austin.Boston.Chicago.ColumbusDallas.Denver.Indianapolis.Los Angeles.Miami.Montgomery County.Nashville,.Newark.New York City.Northern Virginia.Philadelphia.Pittsburgh.Raleigh.Toronto.D.C.
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1. I never thought I could feel as bad for America a I did on election day, but today I feel as bad or worse.
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Clinton 55% of the vote in metros with more than 1 million people, which generate 2/3s of America’s economic output:
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5. Doug Ford is running on a populist platform in Ontario a province that has much more in common with a large American Blue State like NY or Massachusetts or California.
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1. Take a close look at this chart. It a very different & very useful take on downtown recovery of North American cities by my @UofTCities colleague @profchapple.
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For just the third time in its history, the editors of The Atlantic endorse a candidate for president:
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Happy 102nd Jane. You not only predicted the comeback of cities & their importance to economic growth, you predicted Trump's America:.
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We've been at this, what, two weeks: How do we live through FOUR YEARS of it . ?.
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The electoral college is just one of the many institutions that are stacked against our cities - our true innovation & economic engines . .
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"Trump won white voters at every level of class and income. He won workers, he won managers, he won owners, he won robber barons. This is not a working-class coalition; it is a nationalist one."
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1. The whole Clinton lost because of the white working class meme suffers from bad math.
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1. Checking the new @axios Poll on where college students want to live post-graduation. Interesting stuff in many ways.
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Trump is working fast to undermine two key pillars of American innovation & wealth generation: its universities & openness to immigrants .
President Trump has picked Jerry Falwell Jr. to head his higher-education task force
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Where Silicon Valley's Talent Comes From GRAPHIC - http://t.co/3Tvx6MoBTo
http://t.co/YTGbmZofvf.
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A Post-Pandemic Prediction in 2 Parts: .1. Cities, dense living, urban amenities will come roaring back as people crave connection in the Roaring 2020s. 2. Office/Central Business Districts will decline as people work from home & do meetings & socialize in actual neighborhoods.
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17. At the very top of the list that means a vision of how the 70 million members of the low wage multi-racial service class can prosper.
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One of the great urban turnarounds of all time. Much remains to be done, but this is testimony to an aggressive and consistent strategy.
'Detroit is a vibrant and growing city again'; population grows for first time since 1957
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Another uber-rich silver spoon NYer playing the American working class for fools .
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"Before we slipped into an alternate universe of unabashed corruption, this tweet alone might have ended a Presidential administration."
JUST IN: Ex-White House ethics chief: Trump's tweet on firing Flynn may have ended his presidency
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2. The first is the shift from natural resources & physical power/labor to knowledge - where the mind has become the means of production.
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1. The Amazon HQ2 competition is a ruse. As usual, the "game" pits cities & states against each other to come away with the biggest deal. it's time for mayors & governors to organize, opt out & say no.
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As an American who lives in Canada (Toronto), I cannot tell you how transformative this is. It will help open the border -too many people can't cross and see their families- & secure trade. This is smart policy in action! Go BIDEN.
BREAKING—White House plans to send 2.5 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca #covid19 vaccine to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada. 30 mil doses sit in warehouses. This comes just as US quietly pressing Mexico to curb migrants coming to the border.
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16. That does not mean reaching backward to placate the forces of reaction but creating a vision of a diverse inclusive & prosperous society.
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13. I think it’s very easy to see this kind of ideological work. Because it’s not actual research or facts or data. Their research output is basically opinion and essay. Most academics can see straight through that.
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10. But in contrast claims of American "decline," the US is perhaps best positioned of any place to succeed/ compete in this new age.
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"I share the perspective that most San Franciscans have, which is good riddance,” via @NYTimes.
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Outrageous. I fully support the right to protest. But this does not belong anywhere near a university campus . .
'We will be your human shields': Why unions are showing up in force to support the U of T pro-Palestinian protest encampment
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1. It is far too soon to predict the death of cities.
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THIS .
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“The number one reason companies chose not to expand in New York was the condition of transportation infrastructure.” .
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Winner-Take-All Urbanism . "Just five metropolitan areas—Boston; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; and San Jose, Calif.—accounted for 90% of all U.S. high-tech job growth between 2005 to 2017.".
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@jen_keesmaat I am now less sure than you. I am rebuffed at every level. I cannot even get my progressive councilor to help make a single street safe. I have never ever seen a culture of neglect & "no" like this. It may sound strange, but "feels" similar to how Americans fail to deal w guns.
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1. Let's say colleges and universities can't reopen in the fall, because of fits & starts of the virus or fear of second wave. We need to plan now to reopen classes, dining halls & dorms, but what happens if they can't.
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Real leadership is coming from governors & mayors.
Watching @NYGovCuomo’s press conference this morning, with its combination of straight talk, empathy, common sense and hard information, could not be more different from the circus of incompetence, drivel and nastiness spewed by Trump yesterday. #leadership #trustexpertise.
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