Justice
The Complex Relationship Between Innovation and Economic Segregation
It’s not just the tech industry that’s responsible for America’s stratifying cities.
Not too long ago, cities were bending over backward to attract high-tech companies, which they saw as offering good, high paying jobs. City after city developed programs designed to turn them into the “next Silicon Valley.”
But now, from the backlash against Airbnb and Uber to protests over high-tech companies and their shuttle busses, high-tech companies are increasingly seen more as villains than saviors, to blame for making cities less affordable and for the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Indeed, America’s leading high-tech centers—the Bay Area, Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Austin, San Diego, and Raleigh all rank highly on various measures of wage and income inequality.