Albany metro an "economically vibrant college town"
The Albany metro area ranks 15th in a list of the "most economically vibrant college towns" from The Atlantic and Richard Florida.
They applied the term "college town" somewhat loosely:
Our measure is not limited to smaller, more traditional college towns, but also includes larger metros like Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and New York, which are home to major college campuses and large numbers of students and faculty. We measure economic vibrancy in terms of six key variables: per capita income, high-tech industry concentration, the rate of innovation (measured as patents per capita), human capital (the percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher), percent of the workforce in the creative class, and the affordability of housing.
Boulder was #1 on the list. (Tangent: Should we start nurturing Boulder envy? Is Boulder the new Portland? The new Austin?)
(Thanks, Jess!)
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Comments
With the NYS Museum as the picture for Albany it looks like they are ranking "worst architecture in a college town".
... said BBnet3000 on Sep 22, 2011 at 1:24 PM | link
That picture is the the NY State Museum, its UAlbany.
... said shadi Khadivi on Sep 22, 2011 at 2:09 PM | link
Read the article, Shadi.
... said Tim on Sep 22, 2011 at 2:21 PM | link
"worst architecture in a college town".... said BBnet3000 on Sep 22, 2011
Single-pane windows... Flat concrete canopies which leak and crumble in winter and need costly repairs so the pieces wouldn't fall on students' heads...
I heard that the design of the uptown campus was initially made for a university in Arizona. When they refused the firm sold it to New York
... said Lu on Sep 22, 2011 at 2:37 PM | link
Lu, I've heard the same story about the Fine Arts building at UMass Amherst.
... said pjm on Sep 22, 2011 at 8:33 PM | link
Whoever did this study has obviously never been to Albany. The measure of "high tech industry concentration" and the "rate of innovation" do nothing for the 28.2% of city residents living below the federal poverty line.
Here's an article from today's Times Union about it:
Read it for a more accurate picture of our economic reality.
http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Albany-poverty-widens-2184716.php#photo-1618547
Also, I don't think "affordable housing" is something to be proud of in this case. I'm sure we made that requirement because of the number of falling down, unmaintained properties owned by absentee landlords that charge cheap rent.
... said rana on Sep 23, 2011 at 9:19 AM | link