Homogenized Diversity: Economic Visions in the Great Recession

Across U.S. regions, the idea that the resilient region of the future is an economically diverse one has gained increasing popularity. To diversify and adapt to change, many regional plans propose supporting knowledge-based sectors, such as biotechnology, and using livable, walkable (re)development to boost economic activity. This concern for resilience and its perceived connection to economic diversity took on new urgency as regions across the U.S. struggled to respond to the Great Recession. In this paper we explore to what extent this new emphasis on economic diversification is actually shaped by and responsive to the histories, capacities, and strengths of particular regions. In particular, we examine how two regions (Orlando, Buffalo) approach their diversification efforts at the local and regional level. Through these comparative case studies, we explore how local and regional actors conceptualize economic diversity, what policy interventions they propose, and how they connect these interventions to long term stresses (deindustrialization in Buffalo, fast growth in Orlando) as well as to the immediate challenges of the Great Recession (widespread foreclosures and higher than average unemployment, especially among lower-skilled workers in the Orlando region and slightly less disruption in Buffalo). We find that while these two regions diverge significantly in terms of both the long term and short term challenges they face, they approach the issue of economic diversification in surprisingly similar ways. Despite significant variation in their challenges as well as the nature of their civic capacities and regional coalitions, both Buffalo and Orlando propose economic development strategies that focus on ideas of regional competitiveness through encouraging life science and medical clusters and land use planning strategies that emphasize walkable, mixed use communities. We conclude by discussing the implications of this finding for regional resilience in these two regions as well as for regional economic development in the U.S. more generally.