I’m back and it feels great. I missed blogging the past 2 days. Though, there was something nice about not touching a computer all weekend.

This morning I got up extra early and listened to a brief conversation between Aaron M. Renn of The Urbanophile and urbanist Richard Florida. The topic is New York’s “Great Reset”, and the impetus was a recent report (of the same name) that was put out by New York University.

The conversation starts by talking about the resilience of New York City and its ability to accept and then reinvent itself in the wake of “creative destruction.” Destruction such as the financial crisis of 2008/2009. 

But they then go on to talk about the challenges that New York, as well as many other cities, are now facing. Challenges brought about, not by failure, but by their tremendous success. Challenges such as income inequality and the dwindling middle class.

The overarching premise is that we are still in the early stages of a new urban and creative economy. And that there’s lots of work to be done in order to figure out how to make it an inclusive one.

There’s even mention of former Toronto mayor, Rob Ford.

You can listen to the talk below. If you can’t see the embedded play button, click here.

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In case you needed one more piece of evidence that household and family dynamics are changing, here’s a relationship arrangement that you may not have heard of but that’s seemingly growing in popularity: living apart together.

Essentially, it’s when a couple is together, but has decided to live in two separate places, which could mean down the street, in another neighbourhood, or in a completely different borough.

This may sound odd, but:

“The arrangement has surprising appeal, perhaps because it protects against the constant churning in people’s domestic lives,” said Mr. Klinenberg, a sociology professor at New York University. “Many people who live alone are in relationships that are quite meaningful. And the arrangement is especially attractive in New York, which has such a thriving public culture and little stigma about how people live their lives.”

This certainly reinforces the trend towards more and more people living alone - creating an obvious impact on housing typologies. But it’s not something I see as being desirable. Perhaps because I haven’t been divorced 3 times and become sufficiently jaded towards the institution of marriage.

What do you think of this? Would you do it?