Fun is key to successful cities like Austin, San Antonio

Fun = economic development

Steve Hawley, Jan 12, 09.

Cities rich in “consumption amenities” - the attractions that make a city fun - “disproportionately [attracted] highly-educated individuals and experienced faster housing price appreciation,” according to a report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and reported in the Boston Globe.

According to the article, social scientists noticed that in the 1990s, “cities like Seattle and Austin were booming as new-economy hubs for no apparent reason other than the fact that the people responsible for the greatest innovations in high technology had chosen to live in places that were bike-friendly, had good music scenes, and allowed them to show up to business lunches in jeans.”

The study’s authors examined 150 cities and found statistical evidence that those with tourist appeal also demonstrated significant non-tourism economic growth, suggesting that cities should invest not just in roads and infrastructure, but also in cultural and recreational attractions. The article suggests that investing in these projects helps “bring together talented people in the same place” and may be more effective than traditional infrastructure spending, and it cites San Antonio as an example of a city that is successfully implementing such a strategy.

Abstract, “Beautiful city: Leisure amenities and urban growth”