The Great Reset: How the Post-Crash Economy Will Change the Way We Live and Work

From Richard Florida, author of the bestselling books The Rise of the Creative Class and Who’s Your City?, comes a book that frames the economic meltdown of 2008–09 not as a crisis but as an opportunity to “reset.” In doing so, he paints a fascinating picture of what our economy, society, and geography will look like—of how we will work and live—in the future.

This forward-looking analysis provides a framework for post-crash prosperity by exploring:

• Economic History as a Guide: How past crises, from the Long Depression of the 1870s to the Great Depression of the 1930s, provide a blueprint for understanding our own time.
• The New Economic Landscape: An examination of the "spatial fix," detailing the rise of massive, dense megaregions and how they are becoming the new engines of innovation and growth.
• A New Way of Life: Why the age of the "ownership society" is over, and how a move toward renting, mobility, and flexibility will define our future relationship with homes and cars.
• The Future of Work: A look at the fundamental shift from an industrial system to a knowledge-driven creative economy, and what it means for the jobs and skills of tomorrow.

We've weathered tough times before. History teaches us that periods of "creative destruction," like the Great Depression of the 1930s, also present opportunities to remake our economy and society and to generate whole new eras of economic growth and prosperity. In The Great Reset, bestselling author and economic development expert Richard Florida provides an engaging and sweeping examination of these previous economic epochs, or "resets," while looking toward the future to identify the patterns that will drive the next Great Reset and transform virtually every aspect of our lives. He distills the deep forces that alter physical and social landscapes—how and where we live, how we work, how we invest in individuals and infrastructure, how we shape our cities and regions—and shows the ways in which these forces, when combined, will spur a fresh era of growth and prosperity, define a new geography of progress, and create surprising opportunities for all of us.

“A thoughtful, generally hopeful assessment of where we are now, how we got here—and how we can rebuild in the future.” - —BizEd magazine

“Richard Florida can be counted among the great prophets of our age. This incredibly interesting and well-written commentator on the socio-economics of the modern era has hit yet another grand slam, eclipsing his phenomenal ‘Rise of the Creative Class.’” - —Falls Church News-Press

“The Great Reset is an interesting, provocative and intelligent book. Florida is a witty and entertaining writer…It’s well worth reading as a starting point for the future that’s coming our way whether we’re ready or not.” - —Miami Herald

“A breath of fresh air for anyone hoping that Americans (and economists) will learn from their past mistakes.” - —The Daily Beast

“The Great Reset shows how new technology and the new geographies of living and working come together to drive recovery….must reading for anyone who wants to understand where we are now and where we are headed.” - —Chris Anderson, editor, Wired magazine

“This timely and thought-provoking book gives us important insights into the reshaping of America’s economic and physical landscape.” - —Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University

“In his usual lucid and compelling way, Florida argues that elected officials ‘need to get over their love affair with big renewal projects’ and steer money toward neighborhood ventures that improve people’s lives.” - —Harvard Business Review

[U]seful in inspiring thinking about the future of communities, of different types of jobs, and of the nature of work itself.” - —The Conference Board Review

“Enticingly contrarian” - —New York Post