Silicon Alley: The Rise and Fall of a New Media District

by Michael Indergaard

Overview

The 1990s dawned with a belief that the digital revolution would radically transform our traditional notion of cities as places of commerce and industry. Many predicted that digital technology would render cities—or at least their economies—obsolete. Instead, precisely the opposite happened. The IT-intensive firms of the new economy needed to be plugged into a sizeable network of talent, something that established cities like New York and San Francisco provided in abundance. In addition to creating new types of jobs and luring thousands of workers back into the city, new media districts created a new technobohemian urban culture. With vignettes of the high-rollers in New York's new media economy and stories of wild parties in downtown lofts, Michael Indergaard introduces us to the players in this new economy, and explores this intersection of commerce and culture in 1990s New York. He also reveals how the dot-com crash laid bare the hidden connections between the so-called new economy of new media, and the ages old engines of New York wealth: real estate speculators and Wall Street. Chronicling the go-go years and ultimate crash of the new media district, Silicon Alley is a brilliant account of how hype forged a marriage of technology and finance, which in turn generated a new urban culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415935715
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/07/2004
Series:	Cultural Spaces
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael Indergaard is Associate Professor of Sociology at St. John's University in Jamaica, NY.

Table of Contents

Preface 1. Who Were the New Media People and Why Did They Believe? 2. Making and Selling a New Media District 3. Capital and Credibility: Hooking up With Wall Street 4. Taking New York Into a New Economy 5. Over the River and Through the Hoods 6. Silicon Alley Unplugged 7. Creativity Unbound (and Reframed?) Notes Index

Editorial Reviews

"Highly recommended." — Library Journal
"Mr. Indergaard has some useful things to say about what can be rescued from the glory days of Silicon Alley. He points out that real estate innovations during that period, particularly in the Flatiron District, could be appropriated for the rebuilding of lower Manhattan, specifically in regards to office space and the "open flow of capital." But his strongest argument is that the most important change during the period was in the culture of young people." — The New York Sun
"Mr. Indergaard has some useful things to say about what can be rescued from the glory days of Silicon Alley. He points out that real estate innovations during the period, particularly in the Flatiron District, could be appropriated for the rebuildings of lower Manhattan, specifically in regards to office space and the "open flow of capital." But his strongest argument is that the most important change during the period was in the culture of young people." — New york Sun
"Editorial Abstract
." — Reference and research Book News

From the Publisher