Creative Class & Urban Prosperity: Florida’s Economic Model
Richard Florida’s Creative Class Theory
Defining the Creative Class
Richard Florida defined members of the creative class as those employed in occupations significantly associated with “the creation of meaningful new forms.” He rejected defining this class solely by human capital (e.g., college graduation), noting that not all college graduates work creatively, and many creative professionals never attended college or dropped out prior to graduation. However, members of the creative class do tend to be college graduates.
The Super-Creative Core
Most members of the creative class are not “super-creative.” Florida subdivided the creative class into:
- A super-creative core, whose work constitutes “directly creative activity.”
- Creative professionals.
- Others whose work is constituted by a significant creative component.
The super-creative core includes occupations classified by the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) in their Occupational Employment Survey as:
- Computer and Mathematical Occupations
- Architecture and Engineering Occupations
- Education, Training, and Library Occupations
- Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
Florida’s Core Thesis: Cities and Prosperity
Florida’s central thesis maintained that cities failing to attract, maintain, and facilitate the activities of the creative class are much less likely to achieve high levels of prosperity and economic growth, and generate a high tax base.
Attracting the Creative Class: Key City Traits
Members of the creative class, especially super-creative individuals (e.g., software designers), tend to prefer and generally thrive within cities characterized by specific attributes:
Technological Infrastructure
Cities with an advanced technological infrastructure, such as major universities and research institutes, are highly attractive.
Creative People Climate
Cities with creative people climates are culturally tolerant and diverse. This makes creative people in general, and creative innovators and eccentrics in particular (e.g., eccentrics like Steve Jobs), feel welcome.
Cultural Amenities & Social Networking
Such cities are also comprised of cultural amenities that stimulate creative expression, creative conversation, and opportunities for social networking. Examples include:
- Galleries
- Artsy shops
- Cafes
- Hip bars
- Trendy nightclubs and restaurants
Neighborhood Characteristics
Furthermore, these cities tend to contain neighborhoods with physical and structural characteristics that stimulate creativity and creative non-conformity.
Reception and the Inequality Challenge
Florida’s creative class approach to urban economic development has generally been well received by urban politicians in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe, becoming an integral part of urban policymaking in nations throughout the Western world.
However, Florida admitted that while an increase in the presence of the creative class in a city or region tends to promote economic growth, it simultaneously increases inequality within that city or region. He is currently writing a book focused on issues pertaining to class inequality.
Addressing Inequality: Florida’s Proposed Solution
Florida’s Creative Class Thesis posits that this growth produces high-wage, high-skill creative jobs alongside a greater number of low-paid working-class and service sector jobs. These service jobs are designed to support the occupational and personal needs of the newly arrived creative class (e.g., for clerical support, food preparation). This dynamic also tends to raise rents, making it difficult for low-wage workers to find affordable housing.
Florida responded to this problem, albeit briefly, by proclaiming that the creative class should endeavor to reverse this tendency by creating high-paying creative jobs for the entire workforce.