8 ms·

Im convinced that the next valley will happen in the place that can attract the most unmarried people ages 18 through 30. What do these people care about? - ni

• wklauss 11y ago
  I'm not sure where do you get the idea that people aging 18-30 care about those specific things. I assume Pew will have some statistics about interests and priorities for these ages but I wouldn't be surprised if those are not the main worries of the generation. Yes, urban living is on the rise and with it some of these list item will rise too (density, night life, high speed internet, public transportation...) but this is a trend that will affect most mayor cities in the US. My guess? The "next valley" will be highly decentralized and a lot of big cities will act as innovation hubs. Oh and remember that the valley happened well before the flock of young people to SF. Lot of factors played in, including the presence of well established semiconductor companies whose employees were far from the stereotype you are describing.
  • JamilD 11y ago
    > My guess? The "next valley" will be highly decentralized and a lot of big cities will act as innovation hubs. Really? It seems to me like things are getting more centralized, rather than less. I recall reading (though I can't find the source right now -- on mobile; correct me if I'm wrong) that venture capital is more concentrated in the Bay Area now than it was in the dot-com boom.
  • eropple 11y ago
    > The "next valley" will be highly decentralized and a lot of big cities will act as innovation hubs. I would like it if you were right, but I think you are discounting the critical factor of being able to be face-to-face with somebody. I live and work in Boston, and while it's not SF, I am within a forty-five minute public transit ride of most of my clients and almost everybody from whom I could conceive of needing a favor or an intro. Meeting a potential investor at a coffee shop because they had a few minutes and you happened to be in the area is the sort of thing you don't get with distributed communities, and as much as the I find the Valley to be personally kind of odious, that's an unmistakable advantage. And this is a problem that technology, hype to the contrary, doesn't seem ready or able to fix. Video chat is not a solution. It may never be a solution. Being able to sit down and talk to somebody is not replaced by talking at a screen (and while I love the current crop of VR tech, I think it will be as effective as Second Life in terms of meaningful telepresence).
• nipponese 11y ago
  Start with the money (large projects financed by the federal government like NASA, then VCs). That will create the foundation.
  • matt_wulfeck 11y ago
    That money typically first flows into research universities.
• deleted 11y ago
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• andrewfromx 11y ago
  you're so right! it's all about the drugs!
  • GavinMcG 11y ago
    I've never used drugs, but am definitely more likely to move somewhere that has progressive drug policy, if for no other reason than that it suggests a reality-based approach to governance.
• forrestthewoods 11y ago
  What if you didn't have to attract the "most" 18 to 30 year olds? What if what you really needed was to attract an underserved niche of 18 to 30 year olds? I think Atlanta or Nashville is ripe. Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo. The rural market is grossly underserved right now. Almost none of the efforts to get people into computer science are hitting rural communities. I'd very much like to see that change.
  • needz 11y ago
    I think Birmingham fits well in that list. We have a very low cost of living and our downtown is undergoing a huge revival these past few years. Great access to nature too.
    • Apocryphon 11y ago
      Any tech scene, though?
      • needz 11y ago
        We have 'Code for Birmingham' non-profit organization that works to build software for the city, a strong computer science department at the local major University (UAB), and a few tech incubators. We're lacking in the 'meetup.com' department of the tech scene, but the point is we're primed for an influx of entrepreneurs and startups.
        • forrestthewoods 11y ago
          How is the computer science program at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa? Does it have a growing emphasis? Historically C.S. hasn't been big at SEC schools but I've no idea if that's still the case. (I grew up an hour west of Knoxville. And have family in B'ham/Tuscaloosa.)
          • needz 11y ago
• ausjke 11y ago
  While not a perfect fit, Austin seems like a good enough match for this.
  • ProAm 11y ago
    Too crowded and pricey currently. It was but I think it's losing luster because of those reasons.
    • benbreen 11y ago
      Moving from Austin (where I went to grad school) to NYC was eye opening on that score. The average rents had skyrocketed in Austin since I first moved there in 2008, but when I was living there I didn't fully realize how cheap it remains relative to NYC or SF. My friend is currently living in a 2 bedroom apartment in a nice part of town that costs around $900 per month (granted, not the greatest complex, but it has a pool and is 2 blocks from the new metrorail line). The city has changed a lot but the core things I liked about it are still there (natural springs to swim in, good camping and walking trails, Tex-Mex and BBQ, relatively friendly and interesting populace, active music scene). I'm surprised by how much I miss the quality of life in Austin relative to NYC.
    • davidw 11y ago
      "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded" - Yogi Berra.
    • MicroBerto 11y ago
      Austin isn't even close to finishing its growth. It's currently "burroughing" out with me SoDoSoPa style mini-downtowns like The Domain and Mueller due to the awful traffic situation. There's an issue with getting huge money still, but you can live cheap in the burbs and bootstrap to your heart's content. If the REAL tech / hardware industry doesn't have a collapse, there will be no stopping the growth.
      • ProAm 11y ago
        > If the REAL tech / hardware industry doesn't have a collapse, there will be no stopping the growth. You're correct, but look at Detroit and look at the old steel and coal towns. There is always a collapse, and the collapses are happening in faster iterations as technology advances at a faster pace.
• hayksaakian 11y ago
  sounds like seattle :)
  • blakeyrat 11y ago
    Seattle's already doing fine. Any more of the SF-like tech-bros and I'd have to run screaming somewhere else.
• spelunker 11y ago
  Denver/Boulder fits most of that bill and already has a startup culture, sorta. Kansas City is nice too, and Google fiber being available is a huge plus. Obviously I'm biased since I've lived in both places.
  • davidw 11y ago
    Boulder is a great place that has a lot going for it. It's also infested with NIMBY's that are possibly worse than those in the Bay Area. https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/06/18/boulder-colorado-vs-bend-oregon/ https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/06/18/boulder-colorado-vs-b...
    • spelunker 11y ago
      Oh it's a well-known problem in the area. Most recently, people in Boulder were upset with the fact that Google wanted to expand and add something like 4000 jobs. Heaven forbid a bunch of new tech jobs are added to your precious town, right?
      • davidw 11y ago
        I'm not a big fan of the 'privilege' stuff, but "too many good jobs" smacks of someone who's completely disconnected from the reality of a great many people in the world. Especially since I was living in Italy, with a 40% youth unemployment rate, at the time I wrote the above article. "Move to Greece if you want to experience the pleasure of a place without so many of those darn jobs!" is what I can't help but thinking.
        • deleted 11y ago
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      • blackguardx 11y ago
        I've lived in Boulder and San Francisco. Most people weren't upset, just a strong vocal minority. It is the same type of people that don't like tech jobs in San Francisco.
• ryanSrich 11y ago
  Statistically Portland, OR seems like an ideal place (with the exception of Universities). The issue is it's already somewhat expensive. I would say the research triangle seems poised for something interesting, but again, kind of already expensive.
  • JamilD 11y ago
    I don't think being expensive necessarily inhibits innovation and a vibrant culture. Talking in broad generalizations here but: I feel like Portland has the creativity and culture, but not the talent and intelligence. The Research Triangle has the talent and intelligence, but not the creativity and culture.
• jessedhillon 11y ago
  This ignores the fact that the current Silicon Valley has none of these things. Palo Alto has a 3x4 blocks region of low density apartment buildings alongside storefronts, and that's all encircled by single-family residences. Right now, only NY and Chicago (edit: and Boston) have anything in the US that really can claim to be high density. Most of the other "next valley" candidates are not set up to be high density, at all. The real test is that it should be easy for a person to have all of their needs and most of their desires met, while choosing not to own a car. They should not be unreasonably burdened by choosing that. SF is barely passing that test IMO, being a non-car owning resident here, but it's getting better. The other city where that might possible is Portland, and from what I recall of Austin (it's been a while) it's not nearly dense enough to support this.
  • clock_tower 11y ago
    NYC and Chicago, but not Boston? You can live without a car very comfortably in the parts of the Boston metro connected by the T; in the old town and Cambridge, you're actively better off without a car. But I wouldn't bet on Boston becoming more of a startup hub than the modest extent to which it already is; it's too expensive...
• Xcelerate 11y ago
  Well, you've described the items on my dream list perfectly, but it's quite the antithesis of my girlfriend's list. Her list includes: - calm, peaceful nights - suburban house with a yard and a dog - a comfortable car and well-kept roads - internet good enough to stream Netflix - quality local universities that offer tuition scholarships Unmarried 18-30 year olds are quite a diverse bunch.
  • tostitos1979 11y ago
    Agreed. I'd say that the 5+ dollar latte is going to run its course one day very soon. Modern young people have a slew of problems that previous generations cannot fathom. Some of my friends don't have cars - not because they don't want them but because they are financially cognizant. They are focused on paying off student debt asap. They have advanced degrees but are fighting insane competition to get jobs (I have a lot of academics as friends :) ). People have shifted their expectations of life, especially those without rich parents who can lend a hand. At gatherings, we fantasize about moving to cities with low housing costs.
  • Hydraulix989 11y ago
    You can get all of these not too far outside of Pittsburgh itself.