Cities and the Creative Class
Richard Florida (New York: Routledge, 2005)
Reviewed by Deniz Z. Leuenberger
Richard Florida’s Cities and the Creative Class allows
us to revisit themes introduced by the author’s 2002 work The Rise
of the Creative Class and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community
and Everyday Life with greater empirical precision and the benefit
of added reflection and introspection. Cities and the Creative Class is
a further elaboration of research that led to Florida’s theoretical
concept of creative class and its relationship to geography and economic
growth. The book serves as a tool for local government decision making
and for human resources, urban, and economic development. It’s a
valuable guide for public administrators interested in regional growth
through the use of what Florida considers the most valuable economic asset:
people. With increasing emphasis on attracting quality individuals to public
agency employment, the book also provides insights for creating environments
that are inviting to creative, knowledgeable workers.
Creative Class: Economic Growth and Public
Management
In Florida’s view, cities should be centers of creativity and creative
capital is the key resource, which can transform regional markets. Because
creative class workers, (individuals financially compensated for
their creative work), prefer looser ties and increased diversity and inclusion
in their communities, creative capital becomes more important than social
capital in attracting economic growth. This is, he suggests, because creative
class individuals are less interested in the ties of civic duty and responsibility
than they are in less invasive, temporary community ties. He states… “The
kinds of communities both that we desire and that generate prosperity are
difference than those of the past.” Florida recommends harnessing
creative potential in through the use of the “3 Ts of economic development,
technology, talent, and tolerance.” Attracting creative class individuals,
he argues, is the single most important tool for cities seeking economic
growth.
Cities and the Creative Class is full of case examples of cities
in various stages of renewal and growth. It also provides clear and easy
to follow comparisons of variables he views as indicators of creative class
friendly communities. Tolerance for diversity, availability of technology
and the physical style of the environment (bohemia) are used along with
conventional variables such as climate, recreation and median house price
to assess and rank United States cities. He also considers the negative
consequences created by creative class based economies such as lack of
affordability of housing in areas with high concentration of creative class
individuals as renovation takes place, uneven regional development, and
political polarization.
Florida, in this second book, provides answers to questions raised by
his first. For public administrators, this book provides details and answers
that make application of creative class concepts more practical. The examples,
rankings, and charts provide information that can support and serve as
background for policy decisions and for economic development projects,
especially at the local government level. In a world of limited resources,
maximizing human capital resources of all people in a community may indeed
be a critical to economic growth and prosperity. How we view community,
human resources, and economic development may be altered by the creative
class and its contribution to the work of public administration.
Deniz Z. Leuenberger is
a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is currently
an instructor in its School of Public Administration. She has worked
in human services delivery for over fifteen years including serving as
administrator with Nebraska’s Deparment of Health and Human Services.