The Economics of Creativity: Common-sense, yet novel

books:


	• The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life Richard Florida Basic Books, 2003 - 434 pages average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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Fascinating

I never read anything but fiction as a rule, but I couldn't put this down. This was my history, my family, my city, all the changes I've seen in them over the last 50 years, explained and redefined. I consider it a great tool for employers and city planners and for creative people it creates a great sense of connection.

Hopeful rise needs a libertarian push

"If America continues to make it harder for some of the world's most talented students and class="textlinks">workers to come here, they'll go to other countries eager to tap into their creative capabilities--as will American citizens fed up with what they view as an increasingly repressive environment."
-- Dr. Richard Florida, The Flight of the Creative Class

From this quote from his second Creatve book you can see immediately the sort of society Dr. Florida wants. Me, too. What's puzzling is he doesn't explicitly attach his shiny new cart of creativity to the thoroughbred of peace and political liberty.

In particular, you'd expect him to lambaste the Neocon Usurpers for launching expensive wars for isolated benefit of the Carlyle Group. Is he pulling his punches so Rush Bimbaugh won't accuse him of Bush-bashing? In general, why doesn't Florida boldly oppose the bonecrushing machinery of government per se?

That's my 900-pound-gorilla reservation about The Creative books. Otherwise, they provide a nice boost to the kinds of people we want to cultivate in society... or even want to be.

It appears many in public office, more semi-comatose Democrats than fully rabid Republicans, are interested in developing and retaining creative communities.

But are they willing to do what it takes?

The more political power they wield the less willing they are.

Rise shows that what Dr. Florida calls the three Ts of creative-class communities--Talent, Technology, and Tolerance--occur rarely. And when they do, it's more from the tolerance angle.

Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Burlington (VT), Boston, the highest American cities on the creative-class list, achieve their vaunted status by spontaneous order. When governments catch up to what's going on and want to push people around, it's too late.

Tolerance is also another word for freedom. We can easily argue that liberty is fundamentally what the creative havenots have not. Talent and technology gravitate toward communities naturally when political leaders see their mission as preserving a natural order based on civil liberties.

They accomplish that mission mainly by removing government obstacles and keeping the infrastructure efficient.

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. -- Thoreau

Libertarians need no writer from the halls of the Carnegie Mellon Institute to tell us this dear Hamlet. But it's nice that in Rise Dr. Florida makes such a good statistical case for what creativity is, where it lives, and how we can nurture it. He also makes us aware that we, too, are paid-up members of the CC.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

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The Economics of Creativity: Common-sense, yet novel

Upon a cursory glance, Richard Florida's theories regarding the factors that empower truly dynamic, prosperous cities resonate as highly embellished common sense: open-minded, diverse cities (i.e., New York, Chicago) have always and will always outperform more close-minded, culturally heterogeneous places such as Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. But look deeper, and what you discover is a truly unique view - and in my opinion, a correct analysis - of a fundamental shift in the orientation of our society's class="textlinks">workforce and economic structure, transcending even the oft-accepted "intellectual capital" approach to urban success.

Essentially, Florida argues that an active fostering of the "3 T's" - technology, talent, tolerance - will be key to cities/urban areas wishing to thrive in the next century; and that a new class of knowledge professionals has emerged, coalescing around work that requires some degree of "creative" thought. This new creative class includes two components: a "super-creative core" consisting of scientists, artists, and engineers, along with more tertiary professionals such as accountants, lawyers, IT professionals, and financial analysts. The creative class, it is quantitatively demonstrated, has led the nation in job creation and income growth, and with the rise of global economic integration (i.e., globalization) and competition from low-wage countries for basic service-level jobs, the creative class will continue to ascend into a role of economic primacy. The cities that thrive in the next century will be the "creative centers"; places like San Francisco, Atlanta, and Denver that actively nurture the 3 T's. These will be the cities that combine a strong technology-empowered economy with highly-educated citizens and a tolerance for immigrants and alternative lifestyles, best exemplified by the presence of "bohemians" (i.e., artists and other "quirky" intellectual types) and gays. The emphasis on the latter two groups has brought Florida's work under attack from many social conservatives, but facts remain facts: as Florida clearly demonstrates, cities that are tolerant of all forms of diversity have fared better and will almost certainly continue to fare better than those who uphold exclusionary, bigoted social agendas.

Of course, this is a gross oversimplification of Dr. Florida's theories. Much attention is focused on the social and economic developments that preceded the emergence of this new social model; methods for rating the creativity of cities (an overall "creative index", along with his controversial gay and bohemian indexes); and a discussion of how some cities have succeeded in becoming creative centers, while others have failed.

Whether for urban theorists/students of urban theory, leaders in municipal governments, or social scholars, Dr. Florida's work in The Rise of the Creative Class sheds great insight into one of the most important emerging trends in the early 21st Century.

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The signs have been posted.

This is a warning that while Europe is too liberal the U.S. is too conservative. The path to success is some where in the middle. We shouls stop being reactive and start being proactive.

Great insight for city planning

Very well researched subject that counters many of the traditional myths about poplation growth and opportunities for development. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in promoting vibrant, growing communities.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The Washington Monthly 2002 Annual Political Book Award WinnerThe class="textlinks">Rise of the Creative Class gives us a provocative new way to think about why we live as we do today-and where we might be headed. Weaving storytelling with masses of new and updated research, Richard Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity in our economy.Just as William Whyte's 1956 classic The Organization Man showed how the organizational ethos of that age permeated every aspect of life, Florida describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly dominant. Millions of us are beginning to work and live much as creative types like artists and scientists always have-with the result that our values and tastes, our personal relationships, our choices of where to live, and even our sense and use of time are changing. Leading the shift are the nearly 38 million Americans in many diverse fields who create for a living-the Creative Class.The Rise of the Creative Class chronicles the ongoing sea of change in people's choices and attitudes, and shows not only what's happening but also how it stems from a fundamental economic change. The Creative Class now comprises more than thirty percent of the entire workforce. Their choices have already had a huge economic impact. In the future they will determine how the workplace is organized, what companies will prosper or go bankrupt, and even which cities will thrive or wither.

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