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Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Showing posts with label Joel Kotkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joel Kotkin. Show all posts

Thursday, September 5, 2013

More on President Obama's historic trip to Sweden, and sharing some cold hard facts, anecdotes and lessons learned re Sverige; #obamainsweden, @Swedense, @CBildt, @AnnelieGregor, @hannawagenius, @davidlinden1


















Joint statement by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and President Barack Obama: http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/16999/a/222806

 More official photos! http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/17736

 SVT's photo gallery of Wednesday's events: 
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/varlden/bildextra-obama-i-sverige

 SvD's account of Thursday morning's events so far:
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/live-obama-i-sverige-del-3_8488844.svd









Nima Sanandaji is spot-on in highlighting what so many others ignore, whether consciously or accidentally. There were unique factors present in Sweden that allowed a certain sort of culture and ethos to develop and flourish that were NOT possible in countries where transportation and social mobility was far better and where larger centers of industrialization could lure larger numbers of rural residents.

 In rural areas, especially during the many months of very cold weather, you absolutely needed to be able to trust and depend upon your neighbor, even if they were located quite a distance from you. Self-reliance and the bond of community, things so very much absent in current South Florida, with the predictable results we can see all around us:  
Sweden’s phenomenal growth can, besides business friendly policies, has much to do with the country’s unique history. Nordic countries were for a long period dominated by independent farmers who had great incentives to work hard in order to survive in the harsh and cold climate. The populations in these homogenous countries not only adapted very strong ethics relating to work and responsibility, but their culture also became characterized by social cohesion and high levels of trust.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/003909-swedish-lessons-obama

 Similarly...



Joel Kotkin correctly identifies another central aspect of what has made Sweden what it is and has made the areas of the U.S. that Swedish emigrants settled in more successful than others: 
Scandinavia's greatest strength may lie in its least political correct asset: its Nordic culture. Scandinavians' traditional interest in education, hard work and good governance serves them well both at home and abroad. It's not socialism that is primarily responsible.
After all, America's Scandinavians, although largely the descendents of poor immigrants also are pretty successful, earning more on average than their counterparts back home. 



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One of the differences I've observed first-hand between American and Swedish women who are interested in politics and foreign policy is that smart, funny and attractive women in Sweden who are interested in those areas aren't as snobbish or smugly elitist as Americans, like to talk more frequently and passionately about big ideas like freedom and liberty and NOT about how they became vegans, don't seek to win arguments based on painting themselves as victims of "society," don't talk incessantly about yoga, pilates or their career, but have no problem in making public their love for the occasional fast food snacks. 
Par exemple, Hanna Wagenius. http://missbesserwisser.blogspot.com/

 Nothing to do with Obama visit but I find this CUF video of hers droll and amusing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x5qvssI-IQ&feature=share&list=TLp16zPHqyoo0

 Puss och kram på dig!


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 http://anneliegregor.wordpress.com/
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For someone like me who is a longtime recycling enthusiast, one of the best things about Sweden is the average person's commitment to keeping the city and nature free of debris. 
You pay a few SEK for products packaged in recyclable plastic or aluminum, like sodas, at both stores and from vendors, but get your money back via self-serve machines when you recycle at stores. 
All of this gives people a real  financial incentive to return items to stores, as well as for others to pick-up any you see lying on roads or in parks and get that money, which is one of the reasons that Stockholm is SO CLEAN!
Though I'm a committed meat-eater, especially when it comes to pizza, this actually looks good enough to try next time I'm in Stockholm, at Kungstensgatan 62.
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Anyone wanting an accurate account of the problem in Sweden of the lack of successful Muslim assimilation in Europe ought to read my post of September 17, 2012 titled, re Fouad Ajami's Washington Post essay: Why is the Muslim world so easily offended?; What Muslim "moderates"?; Målmo as the European canary-in-the-coal-mine doesn't auger well for the success of Muslim "moderates" or assimilation efforts; #MUSLIMRAGE
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/re-fouad-ajamis-washington-post-essay.html

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The "Creative Class" theory takes it on the chin: Joel Kotkin comes not to praise Richard Florida's notions of the economic dynamism of the Creative Class in urban environments, but rather to bury those ideas under cold hard facts and scrutiny, even while some critics say the theory was always too elitist and patronizing to begin with; "the creative class doesn’t have much in the way of coattails”



bigthink·YouTube Channel: Big Think Interview with Richard Florida, the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. What are the factors in creating a successful economic recovery and what are the public policy. He brings up the South Florida housing market at the 10:28 mark. Uploaded April 23, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqesiFaXg7s


The Daily Beast
Richard Florida Concedes the Limits of the Creative Class
by Joel Kotkin 
March 20, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
The so-called creative class of intellects and artists was supposed to remake America’s cities and revive urban wastelands. Now the evidence is in—and the experiment appears to have failed, writes Joel Kotkin.
Among the most pervasive, and arguably pernicious, notions of the past decade has been that the “creative class” of the skilled, educated and hip would remake and revive American cities. The idea, packaged and peddled by consultant Richard Florida, had been that unlike spending public money to court Wall Street fat cats, corporate executives or other traditional elites, paying to appeal to the creative would truly trickle down, generating a widespread urban revival.
Read the rest of the essay at:

I last wrote about Richard Florida when his book Who's Your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life 
came out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj1OpiBRNsg

 I not only purchased a copy for myself, but after a few days of reading it, also purchased a copy at the then-Borders in Aventura and mailed it to my my niece in Maryland who was then weeks from leaving for her freshman year at Washington & Lee in Virginia, where her younger sister is now still at UVA in Charlottesville, one of the country's really great cities to live in and visit.
His May 27, 2008 appearance at Google HQ at Mountain Vista was one I taped for a number of friends. You can also watch it online at:


Transit Miami blog
Miami’s Suburbs in the Sky 
by Craig Chester
May 17, 2012 

Are the mega-condos of Brickell the key to urban vitality and innovation or are they just cul-de-sacs in the sky? In a keynote speech during the 20th Congress for New Urbanism in West Palm Beach, author Richard Florida challenged the idea that the “rush to density” will unlock and release the potential of our cities.
Read the rest of the post at

I was originally going to write a comment there the day the post above came out but I never actually sent it after writing it, though I did share it with some friends around the country who are also interested in urban planning and design/
Transit Miami 
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 http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida

 His essays at The Atlantic on urban theory:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/authors/richard-florida/

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/11/3228539/urbanist-richard-florida-on-miami.html


Deconstructing Richard Florida
By Ian David Moss
April 27, 2009
http://createquity.com/2009/04/deconstructing-richard-florida.html
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