Richard Florida believes downtown Las Vegas may hold the key to changing the city's economic future.
The University of Toronto professor and author of urban development guides "Rise of the Creative Class" and "The Great Reset" will be outlining the challenges facing Las Vegas and how the recession has inspired Americans to move back to urban cores during his speech at this year's Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Preview event.
"For the better part of three decades, we've been shifting to a knowledge- and creative-based economy," Florida said. "I'll talk about why this transformation challenges us and what we have to do about it."
COURTESY JOHN HRYNIUK | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
University of Toronto professor Richard Florida will discuss challenges facing Southern Nevada and how the recession has inspired Americans to move back to urban cores at this year's Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Preview event on Feb. 9 at UNLV's Cox Pavilion. The key, he said, is cities. People are abandoning suburbs in favor of living closer to work and culture. If downtown becomes the hub of creativity in Las Vegas that city officials and Zappos affiliates dream it will be, it could drastically change the way Las Vegans live and work.
Florida recently spoke to the Las Vegas Business Press about downtown redevelopment and what he plans to tell business owners at Preview, which starts at 7 a.m. on Feb. 9 and runs at the Cox Pavilion on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. Tickets are $60 for Chamber members and $80 for nonmembers.
Question: How does this "great reset" concept you've written about apply to Las Vegas?
Answer: I think that we've come to the end of this sprawling growth without growth, expanding the periphery of your metropolitan area by building houses. You're just shuffling money around.
We're resetting the way we live. Across the country, we see exurbs and suburbs starting to shrink and population beginning to shift toward the core.
People have come to realize that having a bigger house doesn't make them happy anyway. Every year, more and more people give up owning a home and move into condos or rent apartments.
You have this anchor company called Zappos (moving downtown), and not only building a headquarters but investing in housing, mixed-use projects, cafés, bars, restaurants. I think it's happening. It has a long way to go.
Question: Las Vegas has historically run on a service-based economy with a transient nature. Will those fundamentals need to change?
Answer: I don't think necessarily that Las Vegas needs to go out and build a knowledge-based economy. Las Vegas needs to add knowledge and skill to upgrade those service jobs. I think lots of the hotels have been starting to do that.
Certainly this is what Zappos stands as a model of.
The application of creativity can occur in many different professions. I think I'll be challenging the Chamber on that -- why not begin sharing and developing practices and programs and strategies, learning from Zappos and some of the big gaming companies, and helping our country learn how to make service jobs better jobs?
More of our country's economy will look like Las Vegas' than Detroit's. Our economy is going to be much more service-dependent than manufacturing-dependent.
Question: What can small-business owners do to contribute to a long-term, sustainable economy?
Answer: All of us are going to have to think of ourselves as entrepreneurs and small businesses.
My dad had one job for all his life. That's not the life most Americans want to live. We're going to change jobs. We're going to move more.
We've got to give small businesses a better chance to succeed. We do a good job with that with technology. We don't do a good job with mom and pops or small, artistic businesses. Las Vegas has become an incubator of lots of musical and creative acts. Why not develop creativity incubators to help these young bands?
Looking to small businesses to help each other and thrive lessens the odds of failure.
Question: How long will it take for downtown to be completely redeveloped?
Answer: When I was asked by Tony (Hsieh) and (former Mayor) Oscar (Goodman), I said a generation. Tony said, "We don't have a generation. We're going to do this in five years." You have a very aggressive set of actors who want to accelerate the process.
With someone like Tony, it could come together more quickly. You have people at CityCenter, very interesting in doing something in terms of urban fabric. It's happening across the city in different ways.
Question: What is the role of government in encouraging redevelopment?
Answer: Government should focus on making sure it's not overly regulating the heck out of stuff happening. Half the time, what delays it is regulatory codes, building codes, zoning codes.
At the margin, make sure you make the right transportation investments. Make sure the sidewalks are in order, making sure there (are) bike lines that are safe.
Maybe one of the things you could do in Las Vegas, instead of encouraging building in the periphery, encouraging reusing buildings in the core. When you start talking big dollars and urban revitalization, it's generally done more harm than good (like big stadiums).
Question: Last year, you told USA Today that East Fremont was one of the 10 up-and-coming urban neighborhoods to watch. Does it really compare to some of your other choices, like downtown Seattle and Chelsea in New York City?
Answer: I was looking for the nonobvious suspects. There are lots of übergentrified, high-priced designer digs. I wanted to focus on those places that were the next new. I think that's what Fremont and Fremont East (are). (They have) texture, soul, authenticity.
People come to Las Vegas and they look at the Strip. I wanted to say to the USA Today writer, "Go to the Strip, but don't miss this other thing."
Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5273.
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