At the beginning of the 21st century, author and academic Richard Florida predicted that the "creative classes" would become the driving force of economic growth in cities.

The wealth they generated would spread as the creative economy produced increasingly attractive, vibrant and productive urban centres.

Cities would become not only the beating heart of social and cultural life, but the engines of prosperity itself.

However, two decades, one global financial collapse and a housing crisis have made Florida — the great champion of the creative class — think differently. Sorry, this audio has expired Listen to the full interview

"I think there is a creative class, I think it was urban oriented … I just massively underpredicted to what degree this group of people would come crashing back to the cities," Florida says.

"I was quite surprised by the ferocity of the urban revival." Australian cities are often classed as most liveable cities but are they only affordable for the rich? ( Unsplash: Daniel Norris )

And there was another way in which reality departed from Florida's prophecy.

As the professional and creative classes flooded back into the city, affluence became increasingly concentrated — while disadvantage and poverty intensified for millions on the margins.

"That's really the new urban crisis in a nut shell," he says.

"The middle class has declined, the middle class neighbourhoods have declined, and we have divided into both [an] urban and suburban patchwork, of small areas of concentrated advantage and much larger swathes of concentrated disadvantage."

'Welcome to Melbourne'

Australian cities, routinely celebrated as some of the world's most "liveable", seem paradigmatic of the distortions and economic contradictions of contemporary urban life.

"Metropolitan regions like Melbourne and Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver, along with Hong Kong, on an income-to-housing-cost basis, are extraordinarily expensive," Florida says.

"So these very successful, very desirable cities have become so highly sought after they have become increasingly unaffordable to anyone but the rich."

Dallas Rogers, senior lecturer in architecture, design and planning at the University of Sydney, says Australia's housing affordability crisis, in particular, undermines the diversity and vibrancy that was supposed to draw Florida's creative class to urban centres.

Historically working class, central suburbs in Australia's capital cities are becoming more gentrified. ( Getty Images: Emeric Fohlen )

"As the housing affordability problem ramps up in cities like Sydney and Melbourne it can be harder … to get housing close to the city," Dr Rogers says.

"Many politicians and policymakers want a creative city, a strong private housing market and a nimble, creative working class, but they can't have it all.

"Creative cities are diverse cities, and to have a diverse city you need a range of different people.

"What use is a thriving creative precinct if no one can afford to live in the city?"

The dream of social flying

The political consequences of inequality between what Florida calls "winner cities" and the rest, have, over the past two years, been all too clear.

"Within the winner cities, you see this vortex — the separation of these hot areas of concentrated affluence almost cut off. As if within that city itself you have a separate nation," Florida says.

The effect of deepening segregation, he argues, can be seen in the rise of populism.

The excluded majority on the periphery form a sprawling sea of alienation and discontent — ripe for exploitation by populist demagoguery.

Florida believes the creative economy has produced a deepening urban crisis. ( Unsplash: Simon Rae )

And paradoxically, one of the defining characteristics of Florida's creative aristocracy is its progressivism.

Whether it's Bill de Blasio in New York, Sadiq Khan in London or Adam Bandt in Melbourne, major cities conceive of themselves as the bastions of progressive urbanism.

"One of the great paradoxes of the new urban age is if you take the most successful, the most affluent, the fastest growing, the most diverse, the most knowledge-based, the highest level of education, the densest cities — they are at once the most unequal and the most politically liberal," Florida says.

"If Marx somehow came back to life he would say it's not the factory that's the contradiction of capitalism, it's the city itself. The city which both creates wealth and spurs innovation, but carves such deep divides amongst us."

Is the solution to this growing divide to create 'inclusive prosperity', as Florida suggests? ( Unsplash: Anete Lusina )

But Florida is not without his critics — Dr Rogers says he is about 10 years late to the discussion.

"While Florida was championing the creative classes and the creative city a decade ago, urban scholars around the world were both calling his ideas into question and arguing that the key issues were widening economic inequality and increasingly urban polarisation in our cities," he says.

"The real urban crisis is that we see some groups, be they creatives or home owners, as more valuable to our cities than, say, the urban poor or working class."

What is to be done?

Florida's solution is to create "inclusive prosperity" by rethinking assumptions about economic growth.

"We need to see a shift from winner-take-all urbanism to urbanism for all. Another way of putting it is more inclusive growth," he says.

"I argue that it's not going to be done from the Federal Government, it's not going to be handed down from on high — it's going to be local groups, local organisations, local leadership.

"It's by no means a foregone conclusion, but I think there's a moment in which we can change the narrative and change the conversation to build more inclusive, better cities for everybody."