Aili McConnon in Businessweek April 21, 2008 stated that Richard Florida is the anti_Thomas Friedman. Florida takes issue with the New York Times columnist’s popular notion that “the world is flat” – that under globalization, a great leveling has erased the economic advantages of any place in particular. Florida says this is an oversimplification. While some out-of-the-way areas may be finally experiencing economic development, he says, globalization has also meant a tendency for “higher-level economic activities such as innovation, design, finance, and media” to cluster in an ever smaller number of locations. We need to understand “that the world is flat and spiky at the same time,”he insists.

Still taken from McConnon article, in the book, “Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life”, Florida makes the case for why place matters and explains how to determine which cities will “encourage people to do more than they otherwise would, such as engage in more creative activities, invent new things, or start new companies”.

In a telephone discussion between Florida and Lexington mayor Jim Newberry, Florida emphasized the importance of relationships between a number of cities in a mega-region and the country and the world. The key of the future, he argued, is how a city connect to the region around and how a city connect to the world economy.

The book provides description of cities throughout the world and mostly in United States. The book describe a psychological research “Place and Happines Survey" result that is a location is almost as important to people as job satisfaction. The book is interesting, thanks to a fascinating array of maps and charts illuminates various studies taken and reported in the book.

This book may not directly apply to the condition of Indonesian city, however the book trigger ideas and thought how Indonesian see the city where they live. Perhaps, at the end, Indonesian can also answer “who’s your city” really.