Richard Florida visited Kansas City in January 2017 for the first time in over a decade. As the biggest name in urbanism since Jane Jacobs, Florida’s words carry significant weight wherever he goes. KC urbanists and creatives packed into a ballroom to see Florida and fellow researcher Joel Kotkin participate in a joint interview.
The conversation and Q&A lasted over 45 minutes, covering topics ranging from talent retention to the new KCI airport. Listening to the audio recording from that night, one observation from Florida stood out.
“I was more than amazed. I was taken aback,” said Florida, when asked how Kansas City has changed since his last visit. “It feels like—not only in terms of energy but in terms of its built environment, its storefronts, its neighborhoods—this feels a lot like Austin, Texas from 15-16 years ago.”
I can only imagine the beaming faces in the crowd when Florida compared Kansas City to Austin. There’s not much higher praise for a city when speaking to a room full of creatives and urban planning professionals.
But was Florida right? Was Kansas City of 2017 really like the Austin, Texas of 2002?
And perhaps most importantly, is Austin even the type of city we want to be?
KC and Austin by the numbers
Statistically, Kansas City was—and still is—far behind Austin.
Fifteen years ago, Austin was one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The Austin-Round Rock MSA was the third fastest growing metro in the decade between 1990-2000 at 47.7% (846,000 to over 1.2M people). Austin grew another 37.3% to over 1.7 million residents between 2000-2010.
Kansas City, on the other hand, is expected to grow 6% between 2010-2020, far off the pace of Austin in the early 2000s.
How about GDP? While Austin’s economy was virtually flat in 2002 (possibly due to the Dot Com crash), it shot up to over 4% in 2003 and nearly 6% in 2004.
KC’s total metro GDP in 2017 grew at 2.7% compared to the nationwide metro growth rate of 2.1%. We don’t have more recent data available yet, but the Mid America Regional Council (MARC) is forecasting GDP growth of 2.4% in 2018.
Besides Austin, Kansas City is struggling to keep up with other peer metros as well.
KC Rising, a new initiative from MARC that compares Kansas City to its 30 peer metros, has the stated goal for Kansas City to become a top 10 metro in three key economic areas: GDP, Number of Quality Jobs, and Median Household Income. The best KC is doing today is 13th in quality jobs.
So by the numbers, Kansas City doesn’t look anything like Austin, and maybe it never will.
But this comparison fails to consider a more fundamental question: Is Austin worth emulating?
The New Urban Crisis
Austin’s economic and population growth is impressive and enviable. Most Kansas Citians would be thrilled if Apple decided to build a $1 billion campus in KC like they are doing in Austin right now.
But meteoric growth comes at a cost, and Austinites are starting to feel it.
Affordability. Homelessness. Traffic congestion. Austin is experiencing the same growing pains as Silicon Valley, LA, and New York before it. Geeks and musicians once fled expensive coastal cities for central Texas. Now they are leaving Austin and looking for greener pastures.
Richard Florida calls this trend The New Urban Crisis. Cities like Austin, built by and for the Creative Class, grew too quickly and are now suffering from their own success. The model for growth that Austin and other large cities have followed is not sustainable.
The Next Boomtown
“Today, there are more people leaving Brooklyn for Cleveland than the other way around,” said Joel Kotkin during the 2017 joint interview.
We have entered a new era. The next boomtown will be the city that can balance growth with affordability. It will be a place where creatives want to live and work, but can still afford to buy a house and raise a family.
What city does Richard Florida think is best navigating this new era?
“I’m going to say you,” said Florida, addressing the Kansas City crowd in 2017.
According to Florida, Kansas City ranks among the top 10 best cities on New Urban Crisis Index, a measurement of economic inequality, racial inequality, and housing unaffordability levels.
In other words, Kansas City is doing growth right.
That’s not to say we don’t have problems. Violence, poverty, and segregation are significant issues plaguing our city today. We will not succeed until we make progress on those fronts. But it’s better we resolve these issues now, and not when we have the added pressure of over 350 people moving here per day.
“The ability to provide an affordable, livable, quality of place option is [Kansas City’s] real opportunity,” said Richard Florida.
Silicon Valley couldn’t do it. LA and New York couldn’t do it. Now, hot cities like Austin, Denver, and Portland are failing to do it. But maybe Kansas City can be the town that learns to balance vibrancy, creativity, and affordability.
So no, KC won’t be the next Austin. But it could still be the next big thing.
