They sought to address the crisis of the cities

under the direction of Robert P. InmanPrinceton University Press, 2009, 382 pages.

The city is familiar. But it remains a mystery. Why want to live the next to each other, at the risk of mutual frustration, of the crime, congestion Why are some cities growth and other revocation It is this second query address leading Americans to urban issues experts together in a collective learned and punchy.

The key is to accompany the transition from an industrial to a city of services city, that New York and Chicago, but that were not able to Buffalo or Detroit. It must, to this effect, the density (for the urban form) and the brain drain (for human capital and innovation). More cities are high human capital (as measured by the proportion of people from higher education) more successful. Mobility policies must allow the Alchemy of qualifications in a location. Support, by the authorities, to the creation of services and "amenities" is not used to much. Theatres, restaurants, bars, stores are one of the consequences of attractivity and not one of its springs. There is nothing if to arrange friendly downtowns, ready to eat residents are first drawn. To become centres of production, innovation and consumer, cities must retain and attract graduates.

At the end of the 1960s, other specialists of the urban, taken by James q. Wilson were interested in "the Metropolitan Enigma". They sought to address the crisis of the cities. Policies should organise accommodation. Mechanics was not beneficial to the larger cities, which are still concentrated poverty and social tensions. Our authors develop an opposite idea. They argue for people and businesses local strategies. Urban issues are better treated from requests for market planners preferences.

This book to ten authors, accessibility and rigour of the arguments, argues for a minimal intrusion of Government into the local economy. The comments could be summed up thus: States do not have to deal with cities. What grip in France.

by Richard Florida New York, Basic Books, 374 pages.

Professor of urban planning in Toronto and father of the concept of "creative class", Richard Florida is part of the international thinkers in vogue. It characterized the class but also the "creative" city by a rule of three T: technology (ideas, universities), talent (of people competent, innovative), tolerance (of positions open to immigration, the differences).

He is interested in what he calls the "mega regions", large metropolitan spaces from 5 to 100 million whether or not people. The first ten together 6 of the world's population, 43 of economic activity, 57 of the patents and 53 of the scientists. Florida describes new geographical basis for the economy, countdown of predictions the erasure of the territories and the flattening of the world. Buff original mapping, Florida shows the high peaks of the global expertise. He stressed more and more high concentrations because the talents and creativity are located before be connected. The attractiveness of cities, growth, innovation and prosperity, would mainly by the presence of the "creative class" and, therefore, the ability to attract talents of high level. They feed activity cultural and scientific, even snapping new talent.

The is also guide personal for us, so that each can choose the city where he would live for him, his age, his aspirations and personal directions (including sexual) (as in a magazine).

With lightness and data, Florida offers an original analysis. The jealous there will detect weaknesses (on the heterogeneity of the creative class, on the speed of some assertions). Do not refuse to both his pleasure. As one of the proponents of the "Public Choice", Charles Tiebout, taken over by Florida, people will still more "vote with their feet" by moving to sites both less pressurizing (tax) and above all suitable offers. The lesson is true for all mega regions, including the Grand Paris, who are in comprehensive competition to attract entrepreneurs and innovators.

by Anne Power, Jörg Plöger and Astrid Winkler, Policy Press, 2010, 432 pages.

This book, case studies, fed focus primarily men of art. It deals with these "industrial giants," now in the 1970s with "devastated zones", after have dominated their national economy, or even, in some cases, the world economy. On the time of a generation, sometimes are three quarters of the manufacturing jobs that were destroyed, leaving a barren wasteland, impoverishing communities, leading to a mass exodus of population and the strengthening of segregation. The three authors, from the London School of Economics, examines the dynamics of urban decline and recovery, in seven European cities (Leipzig, Bremen, Sheffield, Belfast, Bilbao, Turin, Saint-Etienne), with a few comparative incursions in the American context. According to our experts of urban studies, public investment has allowed revivals and positive mutations, probably faster than experienced (and that still currently living) American cities with similar profiles.

The seven European cases show a capacity of "resilience" to deindustrialization. The analysis emphasizes the importance and relevance of public expenditure on infrastructure or the formation of the people. Social programs have content problems; support to training institutions have allowed innovation and adjustment of the skills of the inhabitants. The physical restoration of spaces (with reconquest of centres and development of public transport) is accompanied by a limitation of the inequalities. These two points differ significantly on both sides of the Atlantic, since in the United States (marked by a more intense and longer crisis) social situations have continued to focus.

The seven "success stories" (relating) relied upon by the book allow a celebration of public intervention. They show, as the title of this work suggests, that cities can rise from their ashes. They have now, in Europe as in the US, to manage the challenge of new ways of life in a world that he wants "post-carbon."