Books: Who's your city?

Some books that I feel are relevant to me. They may be relevant to you too!

Who's Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life



Extracts:

But a disturbing new study has found a solution to the housing slump: Live next to gay people. The study's author measured changes in income and property values using something called the Bohemian-Gay Index.
"Now while that may sound like another name for the San Francisco phone book, folks, it is BAAAD NEWS! This study found that the artistic, bohemian, and gay populations increase housing values in the neighborhoods and communities they inhabit. According to that, I guess people these days want a house with a view of some goateed beatnik playing his bongos while he smokes a clove cigarette and chisels a sculpture of k. d. lang.
"The theory is that tolerant communities, where homosexuals are likely to reside, nurture an open-minded culture of creativity, which can lead to innovations like Google, or YouTube, or ShirtlessHunksBaggingGroceries.com.

Wow, this is interesting because I was only just talking to a friend the other day about Newtown, which is the bohemian/artsy/gay neighborhood in Sydney and where property prices have skyrocketed over the last 5-10 years.

Others, meanwhile, will argue that while jobs, money and schooling are surely important, the most critical decision in life is picking the right life partner-- someone who will support you in all your endeavors and love you unconditionally along the way. Those who study human psychology agree: Loving relationships, their studies find, are key to a happy life. My mother knew this intuitively. She turned down many college-educated suitors to marry my dad, a factory worker and World War II veteran with an eight-grade education. "Richard," she would say, "it was the best decision of my life by far. Sure, some of those other guys made more money. But love is what is really important. I was madly in love with your father every day of my entire life."

Queue the "Awww..." But seriously, I do think there is definitely some truth to that.

Maybe this seems so obvious that people overlook it. Finding the right place is as important as -- if not more important than -- finding the right job or partner because it not only influences those choices but also determines how easy or hard it will be to correct mistakes made along the way. Still, few of us actually look at a place that way. Perhaps it's because so few of us have the understanding or mental framework necessary to make informed choices about our location.
The place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. It can determine the income we earn, the people we meet, the friends we make, the partners we choose, and the options available to our children and families.

Place also affects how happy we are in other, less palpable ways. It can be an island of stability in a sea of uncertainty and risk. Jobs end. Relationships break up. Choosing the right place can be a hedge against life's downsides... It's exponentially easier to get back on your feet when your location has a vibrant economy with lots of jobs to choose from, or a lot of eligible single people in your age range to date.

I think this is really interesting and probably something most people never think about. I mean, most people just live where their parents decided to bring them up and never venture outside their own home town. I was once destined for that life but now I could never go back to the humdrum of the same-ol same-ol. Plus, with nothing to tie me down - no kids, no mortgage, the world is my oyster! :) But getting deep here, I really do think that once you move and live overseas (as I did recently) you really do grow a lot spiritually and for me that was really important. You don't know what kind of person you really are, or want to be, or can be unless you are out of your element and left to deal with things that are strange and unfamiliar...

Here's another book by the same author:

The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday

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