“Tech firms are opting for cities”
– Richard Florida, The Wall Street Journal

Dezeen Wire: technology companies are moving from suburban office parks into cities, writes urban studies theorist Richard Florida in an article for the The Wall Street Journal.

Among the reasons he gives, Florida says that design is now central to the success of both software and hardware, and “design talent is overwhelmingly concentrated in big cities, with their leading design schools and multiple industries that draw upon such skills.”

Florida also claims that the technology involved has advanced and no longer requires big engineering teams with “big suburban campuses to house them,” and a company benefits from having its end-users “right on its doorstep.”

In addition, the new generation of “young and trendy” engineers are “less interested in owning cars and big houses,” preferring to live “somewhere which has lots of bars and lots of places you can eat.”

By contrast, social media giant Facebook has recently announced plans for a campus on the edge of San Francisco Bay, designed by Frank Gerhy. Read more in our earlier story.

Top image: Google Campus at the east London area nicknamed Silicon Roundabout

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