Everyone Deserves a Granite Countertop

Over the past decade, the biggest social development has been the cratering livability of the American cities that had been our most praised and prosperous. San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland were once the “Superstar Cities” hailed by urbanist guru Richard Florida. Having successfully attracted the “three Ts”—talent, tolerance, and technology—they were, he explained in The Rise of the Creative Class (2002), poised to play an increasingly dominant role in America’s economic and cultural life.