Richard Florida’s 10 rules for a city’s

‘quality of place’
RICHARD FLORIDA
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Mar. 14 2014, 2:50 PM EDT

People see cities as more than just where they happened to find a job. A major Gallup survey
identified “quality of place” as the single most important source of civic satisfaction. The more
beautiful, welcoming and diverse the city, the happier and more prosperous its residents will be.

How does a community meet this challenge? We asked Richard Florida, director of the Martin
Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and global
research professor at New York University, to pinpoint the most crucial principles for building a
better city.

1. Up, not out

Sustainability as well as success in the modern knowledge economy requires density, the clustering of
people. Clearly, we need to reduce urban sprawl, but supply and demand has made living downtown in
major cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, New York and San Francisco increasingly unaffordable. We
have to build more housing, a lot more, and the only way to go is up.
"Up, not out" means that cities should grow by building taller buildings rather than spreading out into wider areas. This is important for two main reasons: it helps the
environment by reducing urban sprawl (which is when the city spreads into the countryside, taking up more land and making people rely more on cars) and supports a
thriving economy by keeping people close together. In big cities like Toronto, Vancouver, New York, and San Francisco, there's a big demand for living spaces, which
makes living in the city center very expensive. To make more room for everyone without spreading out too much, the idea is to build more apartment buildings and
skyscrapers.
 2. The right density
Of course, too much density can be as bad as too little. Like suburban sprawl, the skyscraper canyons of
Asia isolate people and suppress the spontaneous social interaction that powers innovation and growth.
Creativity thrives in places like New York and San Francisco amid a downtown mix of towers and older,
low-rise industrial buildings and denser suburbs. The key: streets filled with restaurants, coffee shops
and public spaces. As urban activist Jane Jacobs famously said, density should stimulate diversity, not
repress it.

"The right density" means finding a balance in how many buildings and people are in an area. Too many buildings, especially very tall ones, can
make people feel isolated and cut off from each other, similar to how too much space (like in the suburbs) can make people feel disconnected. The
best environments for creativity and growth are places where there are both tall buildings and smaller, older ones, with busy streets that have lots
of restaurants, coffee shops, and public areas. This mix helps people run into each other and share ideas more easily, which is good for innovation.
Jane Jacobs, an important thinker on cities, believed that the goal of having many people and activities close together is to create a lively variety of
experiences and opportunities, not to make people feel crowded or limited.
3. Transit is the ticket
Just as investment in rail and roads once spurred growth, a new round of spending on urban transit can
spark denser development and greater human connectivity.

"Transit is the ticket" suggests that investing in public transportation systems like buses, trains, and subways is crucial for a city's
development and for bringing people closer together. In the past, building roads and railways helped cities grow by making it easier
for people to move around and for goods to be transported. Nowadays, putting money into improving and expanding public transit
can encourage more compact city growth and make it easier for everyone to connect with each other, places, and opportunities.
4. No free rides
We buy tickets to travel by train, bus and plane, so why give car drivers a free pass, especially when it
amounts to a giant subsidy for suburban development? It’s time for people to pay for the roads they
use, ideally by charging a sliding rate for different times of the day. This will not only reduce congestion
but encourage development that goes up rather than out.

This rule argues that just as we pay to use public transport, car drivers should also pay to use roads. This is because allowing
cars to use roads for free is essentially a subsidy for living in suburbs, as it encourages more driving and spreads the city out.
Charging drivers based on the time of day they use the roads can help reduce traffic jams and promote building more densely
rather than spreading the city wider.
5. Share the wealth
To make cities more affordable and equitable, urban growth must be more inclusive, and of benefit to
all economic classes. This requires upgrading millions of precarious jobs in the service sector. Research
shows that higher pay makes employees more engaged and innovative, which improves customer
service and promotes prosperity across the board.

To make cities fairer and more affordable, everyone, including those in low-paid jobs, should benefit from urban growth. This means
paying service sector workers better, which research shows can make employees more motivated and innovative, improving
services and helping the economy grow in a way that benefits everyone.
6. Diversity = creativity
Diversity can make a city a cauldron of creativity, but as musical innovators David Byrne and Moby have
lamented, great cities are becoming so expensive that creative people are being edged out. To remain
fertile, they must be affordable to all – artists as well as techies and professionals.

Diversity in a city drives creativity, but as costs rise, artists and creative individuals can no longer afford to live there. Cities
need to be affordable for everyone, including artists, tech workers, and professionals, to keep them vibrant and innovative.
7. Keep it green
Long at war with nature, many cities have improved their environmental records, but they can do
better. They also must be more resilient, a requirement illustrated dramatically by recent natural
disasters from ice storms to hurricanes.

Cities have often grown without considering their impact on nature, leading to environmental problems. However, many cities are now
trying to improve their relationship with the environment. It's not just about being greener but also about making cities able to
withstand natural disasters like storms and hurricanes better.
 8. Safety for all
Canadians assume our cities to be safe, but elsewhere there remains great danger. From the slums of
the global south to the “sacrifice zones” of such places as Newark, Detroit, Chicago’s South Side and
Oakland, there are still killing fields, and not nearly enough is being done to halt the violence.

While Canadians often consider their cities safe, many places around the world still experience high levels of violence. Some areas in
cities like Newark, Detroit, Chicago’s South Side, and Oakland are very dangerous. More efforts are needed to reduce violence in
these "killing fields."
9. Design for health
Cities are said to be the only organisms whose metabolic rate increases with size: They prosper because
they speed goods, people and ideas around. But favouring the automobile also promotes obesity, high
blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes – which is why its mayor has put Oklahoma City on a diet.
We can design cities for better health, lowering the cost of care in the process.

Cities get busier and more connected as they grow, which can be good for spreading ideas and moving people around quickly.
However, designing cities in a way that encourages car use can lead to health issues like obesity and heart disease. Oklahoma
City's mayor tried to tackle these problems by encouraging healthier lifestyles. Cities can be designed to promote walking, cycling,
and other healthy habits.
10. Be family friendly
The resurgence of cities is driven in part by their attractiveness to young singles as well as empty-
nesters. But too many places, especially in the United States, are on their way to becoming childless.
They could learn from Toronto, which I consider an urban “family zone,” despite pressure from rising
housing prices. Great cities have decent schools, safe streets, good jobs and affordable housing, all of
which should make them friendly to families, be they gay or straight, rich or poor, or from any ethnic or
racial group.
Cities are becoming more popular with young singles and older adults without children. However, this trend is leading to fewer
families with children in some cities, especially in the U.S. Cities like Toronto manage to be attractive to families despite high housing
costs, thanks to good schools, safe streets, jobs, and affordable housing. Cities should aim to be welcoming to families of all types,
regardless of their makeup.