The Rise of the Creative Class
Richard Florida
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0205.florida.html
Richard Florida believes that human creativity is the ultimate economic resource. The ability to come up with new ideas and better ways of doing things is ultimately what raises productivity and thus living standards. The great transition from the agricultural to the industrial age was based upon natural resources and physical labour. The transformation that we see now is potentially bigger and more powerful. The previous shift substituted one set of physical inputs (land and human labour) for another (raw materials and physical labour). The current one is based fundamentally on human intelligence, knowledge and creativity. Florida’s figures are staggering: the wealth generated by the creative sector accounts for nearly half of all the wages in the United States, 1.7 trillion US dollars – as much as the manufacturing and service sectors combined.
Florida has a few fascinating theories to share here:
-
Creativity – the ability to create meaningful new forms - is now the decisive source of competitive advantage. In every industry, from automobiles to fashion, food products and information technology, the winners in the long run are those who can create and keep creating.
-
Geography and place still matters – witness how high tech firms themselves concentrate in specific places like the San Francisco Bay Area or Austin or Seattle. It is geographic place rather than the corporation that provides the organizational matrix for matching people and jobs.
-
Creative people don’t just cluster where the jobs are. They cluster in places that are centres of creativity and also where they like to live. The Creative Class is strongly oriented to large cities and regions that offer a variety of economic opportunities, a stimulating environment and amenities for every possible lifestyle. Whereas the lifestyle of the previous organizational age emphasized conformity, the new lifestyle favours individuality, self-statement, acceptance of difference and the desire for rich multidimensional experiences.
|
Next
