From the best-selling author of "The Rise of the Creative Class", a brilliant new book on the surprising importance of place, with advice on how to find the right place for you.It's a mantra of the age of globalization that where we live doesn't matter. We can innovate just as easily from a ski chalet in the Alps or a cottage in Provence as in the office of a Silicon Valley startup.According to Richard Florida, this is wrong. Globalization is not flattening the world; in fact, place is increasingly relevant to the global economy and our individual lives. Where we live determines the jobs and careers we have access to, the people we meet and the "mating markets" in which we participate. And everything we think we know about cities and their economic roles is up for grabs."Who's Your City?" is the first book to report on the growing body of research on what qualities of cities and towns actually make people happy in their lives. Choosing a place to live is as important as choosing a spouse or career, but until now, no one has rigorously explored this powerful component of subjective well-being to uncover what people want, need, and get out of the places they live.
For everyone from urban planners and mayors to recent graduates, this book will be the essential guide to how people choose where to live, and what those choices mean to their lives and their communities.
This book is the ultimate guide for anyone who is thinking about relocating - for whatever reasons. Several of it's chapters are very enlightening and the eventual "guide" in the last chapter gives you a good structure to work through your options of places you'd like to live.
The only thing I found a bit disappointing is that the book focuses mainly on the US, despite the growing globalization. But the general advise can be converted to any country or city in the world.
What the book also lacked for me was a chapter for "childless couples" - what is the best place for them?! The one for singles? Empty-Nesters?! Disappointing... I skipped all the stuff about singles and families, so I can't speak for that.
But as mentioned, if you're thinking about relocating, read this first.
