Creative Class

Thanks to Lena and SOMA Magazine. Click here to read the whole story, then scroll to pages 42 and 43.

Here’s the abstract for a new paper on said with Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick.

Economists have argued that individuals choose locations that maximize their economic position and broad utility. Sociologists have found that social networks and social interactions shape our satisfaction with our communities. Research, across various social science fields, finds that beauty has a significant effect on various economic and social outcomes. Our research uses a large survey sample of individuals across US locations to examine the effects of beauty and aesthetics on community satisfaction. We test for these effects in light of other community-level factors such as economic security and employment opportunities; the supply of public goods; the ability for social exchange, that is to meet people and make friends; artistic and cultural opportunities, and outdoor recreation; as well as individual demographic characteristics such as gender, age, presence of children, length of residence, income and education levels, and housing values. The findings confirm that perceived beauty or aesthetic character of a location has a positive and significant effect on perceived community satisfaction. It is one of the most significant factors alongside economic security, good schools, and the perceived capacity for social interaction. We also find community-level factors to be significantly more important than individual demographic characteristics in explaining community satisfaction.

The full paper is over at the MPI site, here.

Richard Florida photographed with the Mayor of Ottawa, Larry O’Brian, October 2009.

The Center for Economic Growth and The Stakeholders present Future Forward, an event featuring Richard Florida, at the Palace Theatre in Albany, New York, on September 24, 2009. Richard will speak about Who’s Your City? and why the creative economy is making where you live one of the most important decisions of your life. A book signing and after party are also part of the evening’s festivities.

Do you feel that you live in the right city? Or is there a move in your future?

From left to right: Richard Florida; Mayor of Albany, New York, Gerald D. Jennings; Jeff Stone, president of Key Bank, NA, Capital Region New York District; City Champion Catherine M. Hedgeman; President, Center for Economic Growth, Michael Tucker

Richard Florida’s Twitter feed has been named on the list of “100 Best Twitter Feeds for Savvy Business Students” by AssociateDegree.org.

Follow Richard on Twitter at Richard_Florida!

Who are your favorites to follow on Twitter?

Being held September 15-17 in Incheon, Korea, the Asia Pacific Cities Summit (pdf) on creative urban development is an initiative of the Brisbane City Council of Queensland, Australia. Richard Florida is serving as the keynote speaker of this prestigious international event.

The goal of this summit is to cultivate city partnerships and encourage the sharing of information and ideas between local governments, technical experts, and business leaders in the Asia Pacific region.

Some praise for Richard – “considered one of the world’s leading intellectuals” – courtesy of the JoongAng Daily.

Does your community work to create partnerships between neighboring cities and communities?

Rana Florida, Richard Florida, and Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman

Rana Florida, Richard Florida, and Mayor of Incheon Korea, Ahn Sang-Soo

Richard gave the keynote speech at the Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum in Columbus Georgia this week, along with Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, General David Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command, and Norah O’Donnell, Chief Washington Correspondent for MSNBC. The topic was “Leadership in Uncertain Times.”  The event took place in a restored iron works building. Amazing reuse of space.

What changes, if any, is your organization undertaking to enhance the skills of today’s and tomorrow’s leaders?

Norah O'Donnell, Chief Washington Correspondent for MSNBC

Richard Florida

Richard Florida with General David Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command

Richard Florida and Rana Florida shaking hands with General David Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command

Richard was the keynote speaker alongside Governor Charlie Crist at the 42nd Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Miami Beach last month. Several business, state, and regional officials turned out to discuss the future of Florida. According to Visit Florida, “Tourism is one of Florida’s top industries. In 2007, approximately 84.5 million visitors to Florida generated $65.5 billion in taxable sales, $3.9 billion in state taxes, and employed 991,300 Florida residents.”

What are your thoughts on Florida tourism given the state of the economy?

Governor Charlie Crist

Richard Florida Keynote address at the 42nd Annual Governor's Conference on Tourism

State Representative Joe Gibbons

Richard Florida will present his thoughts on how to develop a strong economy at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club in Naples, Florida, an event initiated by the Economic Development Council of Collier County. Taking place on Wednesday, May 20, the event entitled It Pays to Be Creative will include discussion of the three T’s of economic development, the importance of place, and investing in science and technology to increase creativity. For more event details, click here.

A shared vision is crucial to spurring change in a community – what road blocks continue to get in the way of creating a healthier economy in your city?

Wednesday morning I went to visit Toronto City Hall to address the city’s economic development committee on how to best position in light of the economic crisis. I didn’t think it would be a newsworthy event, but guess what…

The National Post opens with my favorite headline in a a long while: “Richard Florida goes to City Hall quotes Karl Marx.” Here’s the story:

Quoting Karl Marx, cab drivers and his factory-worker father, celebrity intellectual Richard Florida went to Toronto city hall today to tell councillors that improving the lot of service-sector workers is key to the city’s prosperity.

Toronto’s economic development committee invited Prof. Florida, an American academic and author now at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, to enlighten on the way out of the current global financial crisis.

Although Prof. Florida’s emphasis on the creative class – workers in intellectually driven fields like the arts, technology, film, communications, engineering, science and research – have drawn criticism for being elitist, today he focused on a different class of worker. He compared the situation of workers from the hotel, restaurant, retail and customer service sectors to the lot of exploited factory workers at the turn of the 20th century.

Because of their outsized presence in Toronto’s workforce, he posited that improving their incomes, work conditions and happiness could be the key to Toronto’s future prosperity – just as the rise of the unionized labourer became the foundation of the middle class in post-war North America. “Those jobs are local and hard to outsource offshore,” he said. “We really, really, really have to think about how to upgrade that work.”

After his presentation, the committee decided to request a report from city staff on a possible creative stimulus package – to nurture the growth of creative industries – and to hold a summit with service workers in the fall…

Prof. Florida noted he doesn’t like the words “crisis” or  “depression” or even “recession” to describe the current downturn. He prefers the term “great reset” – which he coined and will appear in a forthcoming book…

Prof. Florida encouraged the metropolis to think even further afield. The axis of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto Waterloo and Chicago is what he called a “mega-region” that has the potential to be a world powerhouse. Toronto and Waterloo – a hotbed of technological and scientific discovery – are natural partners in particular, Prof. Florida said.  Waterloo has the ideas that lead to upstart industries with the help of venture capital, he said, while Toronto is the kind of place those knowledge industry professors want to locate.

The Toronto Star picks up on the “creativity stimulus.”

Stimulus plans for building roads and sewers are fine recession projects, but Toronto could use a “creativity stimulus” package, too, says urban guru Richard Florida. Florida, who has argued that attracting and nurturing a “creative class” is a key component to building successful cities, appeared before Toronto’s economic development committee today.

“Why not consider us the first city that does a creativity stimulus?” Florida asked councillors …  “Why not think about a creativity stimulus, and not just for advantaged people, but for all people?” he asked. “What about giving all those young people who want to use their creative energy and talent a way to do it?  “That is as important as physical infrastructure building, and maybe over time more important – especially for young kids; especially for kids who may be getting dis-attached from school.”

Toronto has paid a lot of attention recently to big institutions such as the art gallery and museum, he said, but creative people need support, just as the institutions do.  Toronto should be thinking about “creativity incubators,” as it does about business incubators, he said. Business incubators generally provide start-up businesses with cheap space and expert advice, often giving them a boost before they’re turning a profit.

Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto-Rosedale) hailed Florida’s idea, and asked staff to research the idea. He said the city might consider giving a boost to creative residents in Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods – areas of low income and high unemployment.

UPDATE: The always insightful John Barber of the Globe and Mail provides intriguing perspective.