Uncool Cities by Joel Kotkin

“Uncool Cities” by Joel Kotkin argues the complete other side of the argument presented by Richard Florida. Kotkin’s argument is that a city will not grow if it only appeals to the creative class. His focus is on how cities are losing population to the suburbs. He also focuses on the important aspects of a failing city such as housing, educational facilities, transportation methods, occupation issues and the issue of safety. Kotkin also addresses how politicians focus on the wrong aspects to correct. In his article he also emphasizes how cities cater to the creative class, rather than focusing on the whole population. I agree with Kotkin’s emphasis on how to correct cities. City officials and politicians need to focus on the whole community rather than only focusing on the creative class. Until reading the article I agreed with Florida, while now my aspect on how to correct cities has changed. Catering to one specific group will not help fix a city. I was stunned to read that a month before Hurricane Katrina, the city held a conference on how to expand the convention center, rather than focusing on a levee. Kotkin’s views on correcting cities have a realistic approach and they do not cater only to the creative class like Florida’s ideas do. Cities are compromised of many types of classes and races and this is what needs to be addressed. In order keep a population within a city the important aspects need to be corrected and then cities can focus on how to cater to individual classes such as the creative class.