Researchers: San Francisco is the Center of the Tech Solar System and Austin is Just a Satellite

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A lot of ink has been spilled about the outflow of workers from San Francisco and the Bay Area but, according to a recent Harvard Business Review article, “In the technology world, San Francisco remains the center. It remains the sun on which the planets orbit.” Those planets include places like Portland, Seattle, and Austin, to which companies and workers decamped during the pandemic. This theory of the “meta city” offers a new way to think about our globalized economy. It also suggests that the fear that San Francisco’s best days have passed is misplaced. We’ll talk about this concept and what it might mean for the city’s economic future… and self-esteem. Guests: Richard Florida, professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; author of "The Rise of the Creative Class" and co-author of the recent Harvard Business Review article, "The Rise of the Meta City" Molly Turner, lecturer and expert on technology startups and cities, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho LaPuerta, a health resort with 85 years of wellness experience, providing summer vacations centered on well-being. Special rates on three-and-four-night August vacations include sunrise hikes, water classes, yoga, and spa therapies, all set in a backdrop of a dreamy summer sky. A six-acre organic garden provides fresh fruits and
0:22.7	vegetables daily. Learn more at Ranchoer Tuerta.com. Support for forum comes from Broadway
0:28.3	S.F, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story. From three-time Tony-winning
0:35.1	composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:40.3	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:46.0	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion.
1:01.8	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.1	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:08.7	From KQED.
1:23.6	From KQED. We're all familiar with the concept of metropolitan areas.
1:27.2	You know, the rest of a city's
1:28.6	economic machine that doesn't fall within the smaller political boundary of a San Francisco
1:33.4	or Los Angeles or whatever. But urban economist Richard Florida argues, what if that way of
1:39.6	thinking about a city's operation is in need of an update? He proposes that cities like San Francisco, New York, Dublin, can be thought of as, quote, meta-cities,
1:51.0	which maintains satellite relationships not just with their suburbs, but with cities across the country and world.
1:57.0	We'll talk about the data behind the theory and what it means for our region. That's all coming up next after this news.
2:10.8	Welcome to Forum.
2:12.0	I'm Alexis Madrigal.
2:13.8	Who around here wouldn't like a theory that places San Francisco at the center of the tech solar system,
2:20.2	holding our satellite cities gently in orbit? You're Austin, Seattle, Portland. Well, that's one
2:25.5	interpretation of Richard Florida's new argument about the economic geography of cities. Long time,
2:31.4	academic, he became famous for identifying what he called the creative class,
	...

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