Finance and the City

Stephanie Russell-Kraft — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:22:44 +0000

This blog post is part of the investigation:

Quantifying Risk: Security and Certainty in the Financial Industry

In a recent article posted on The Atlantic Cities blog, urban studies theorist Richard Florida (most well known for his 2001 book, The Rise of The Creative Class) examines the new geography of finance within the United States.

He writes: "The 2008 financial crisis set in motion shock waves that are still reverberating through the American, European, and global economies, touching everything from housing to jobs to college tuition... Several years into the crisis, I wanted to look at how the crisis might have affected the geography of finance across America."

Florida's findings, which he compiled with the help of Charlotta Melander of the Martin Prosperity Institute, caught my attention. He writes that while the Greater New York Region is by far the largest financial center in the USA (with nearly half a million people working in finance-related occupations!) it ranked only 18th in a map charting "the share of total regional employment composed of people who work in all finance-related occupations." Only 5.8% of the New York workforce falls into this category. In Washington, D.C., by contrast, financial occupations make up nearly 10% of local employment.

In what ways, then are the cultures of cities defined by their leading industries? New York represents the financial capital of the United States, but can we define it as a financal city? To what extent is the Big Apple shaped by Wall Street?

These questions came up a few times while I was conducting my research among graduate students in computational finance this past September. The students enrolled in this particular program had the option of completing their degree at the university's main campus (in Pittsburgh) or at its satellite campus in New York City.

So, I asked, why did students choose New York?

For the most part, it was a calculated professional choice. The students acknowledged that daily on-campus access to professors might have had its advantages, but that these were minimal when compared to the benefit of living and studying in such close proximity to so many potential employers. Said one first-year student, “This is where the industry is. It's all about broadening your net. .. I'm here to get a job. It's not about my GPA, it's about networking and taking advantage of every opportunity.”

At the same time, other students told me that New York itself, as a complete city which happened to contain a financial hub, was the primary attraction. "I read a lot about New York and how rich it is in culture and opportunities, the melting pot of the whole world, the biggest financial center in the West and possibly the world, so .. it looked like the big league," another first-year explained. "So that's why I decided to move here....You walk down the street, you hear tens of languages, skyscrapers, the city is very rich in all aspects, not only in cash."

This last sentence leaves me wondering: to what extent can we parse through these various aspects of richness? And how can we qualify, or perhaps even quantify, non-material wealth?

Tags:

Finance

New York

Jobs

Occupations

Urban Studies

Financial Crisis

Crisis

Wie hört es sich an, wenn die Krise getanzt wird? - Erster Einblick

Caroline Schaper — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:21:38 +0000

This blog post is part of the investigation:

Keep moving - Dancing the Crisis

Wie klingt es, wenn eine Tänzerin die Krise tanzt?

Wie klingen ihre Bewegungen und welche Musik wählt sie aus?

Wir haben Karla Mendoza am 28.9.2012 dabei gefilmt, wie sie die Krise tanzt. Die Performance selbst haben wir einen Tag zuvor zum ersten Mal gesehen, als wir uns zu einer gemeinsamen Präsentation in einem Probenraum in Berlin-Mitte trafen. Karla, You-Kyung, unser Kameramann Vincent und ich saßen zwei Stunden in einem alten Klassenraum einer Plattenbauschule, die als Probenort zu günstigen Preisen vermietet wird. Da der Ort, wo die Performance am nächsten Tag gefilmt werden sollte, immer noch unklar war, nutzten wir diese Probe auch zum Brainstormen: Was suggeriert die Musik für eine Atmosphäre? Was suggerieren die Bewegungen für eine Atmosphäre? Passen diese beiden Empfindungen zusammen? Wie passen sie zusammen?

In diesem Fall empfanden wir die Intensität der Bewegungen und den ausgewählten Soundtrack als ziemlich konträr. Also entschieden wir uns für einen Ort, der diesen Kontrast vielleicht noch unterstreicht. Dazu später mehr.

Ohne vorab das gefilmte Material zu zeigen, möchte ich die Chance nutzen, einen ersten Zugang zu Karlas Performance nur hörend vorzunehmen. So viel geht verloren, wenn man gleich die Bilder dazu sieht. Ich habe euch sowohl den Track "The Son" des spanischen Cellisten David Fernandez (http://en.davidfernandez.org/ecce-cello/), der fast jeden Tag zwischen 16 und 18 Uhr am Kotti live zu erleben ist, und einen Audioauschnitt aus Karlas Performance bereitgestellt.

Ich würde gerne wissen: Was hört ihr? Welche Gefühle habt ihr, wenn ihr beide Stücke hört?

Tags:

Performance

Crisis

Sound

listen also to:

ssoc - sights and sounds of the crisis - Crisis

Finance and the City

Wie hört es sich an, wenn die Krise getanzt wird? - Erster Einblick