Spotlight Vol. 7, No. 10: Bridgeport Is Cool, Believe It Or Not

by David Kooris, Director, Connecticut Office, RPA

Regular readers of Spotlight, and any of you who know me, are undoubtedly familiar with my bullish attitude on the potential of Connecticut's largest city and my place of birth. Yet, I'll be the first to admit that Bridgeport is only just embarking on the path to realizing its renewed greatness. 

You can imagine then how pleasantly surprised I was to see how highly Bridgeport ranked in all categories of Richard Florida's new book, Who's Your City? It is what he refers to in his book as one of the very few 'generalist places.' (Florida, for introductory purposes, is a described "urban studies theorist" and the originator of the concept of the "creative class," which refers to his theory that it is a creative and skilled workforce that drives economies.)

In the tables on his website for the book, Bridgeport ranks third for young singles, first for young professionals, first for families with children, first for empty nesters, first for retirees, and first for gays and lesbians. These rankings are out of 46 similarly-sized places and no other location even shows up in the top five as many times as Bridgeport. Not surprisingly, the website didn't answer all my questions so I had to buy the book to find out more about this analysis.

With book in hand, I went straight for the charts. Sure enough, the same rankings were there on the printed page - only in every instance Bridgeport, CT was replaced by Stamford, CT. This made clear that Florida was talking about not just one city but the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk region - Connecticut's Gold Coast. The title of Florida's book really should have been, Who's Your Region? 

Once I understood this, I was less surprised that someplace so diverse can rise high on rankings that examine such a broad range of characteristics. Ranging from Bridgeport's downtown to Greenwich's coast and the suburban communities in between, there is something for everyone. The region also ranked highly on an additional set of rankings that identifies the best buy for each group. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk is in the top five for every group except for retirees. Given the region's recent distinction as having the highest rents in the nation, I'd be particularly interested in seeing the factors that informed that decision, something not available in the book.

At the end of the day, I'm a little disappointed that Florida's analysis did not provide the statistically based acknowledgement that Bridgeport is as great as I've been preaching. What the analysis does do though, is point to the importance of thinking regionally. No one single municipality in the Stamford-Norwalk-Bridgeport region could currently meet the demands of such diverse groups looking for a place to call home. While strategic planning will hopefully result in some of these towns and cities someday meeting the life-cycle demands of their communities, the reality today is that they only do so through the agglomeration of their assets. If only for that reason, working collaboratively will be integral to maintain a high quality of life in the coming years.