A new book by renowned urbanist and sociology professor Sharon Zukin, "The Innovation Complex," shows how the new urban economy is being shaped by digital technology companies and organizations, city governments, and the techno-financial meritocracy. Taking a close look at "innovation" in New York City from the city's economic collapse following the dot-com crash in 2000 to its emergence as the world's second-largest startup ecosystem in the 2010s, the book explores the emergence of new organizational, geographic, and discursive spaces that literally root digital production in the local economy, fostering a tech-savvy workforce, public-private partnerships, and an aggressive entrepreneurial culture.
The book begins with an examination of the urban subculture of hackathons and meetups, charts the careers of New York startup founders and venture capitalists, and traces the transformation of the Brooklyn waterfront from an industrial wasteland into "Innovation Coast." Analyzing the connections between local networks and global capital, the author shows how the Silicon Valley innovation model is being urbanized in large cities like New York City, where the powerful alliance between business, city government, and university leadership is reminiscent of Charles Wright Mills's notion of a power elite. Paradoxically, while the 21st-century economy is making cities more successful, they are also becoming less livable for those unable to reap the benefits of technological innovation.