By Carolyn Merryweather
June 23, 2003

On June 7, Professor Richard Florida, H. John Heinz III Professor of Regional Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University and author of the book, The Rise of the Creative Class, addressed the 71st Annual U.S. Conference of Mayors and the 2nd Annual International Conference of Mayors at the Plenary Session in Denver. Florida spoke on the importance of cultivating, attracting, and retaining what he termed a "Creative Class" of people within cities.

Outlining his experiences in Pittsburgh, Florida emphasized his theory that what draws companies to cities is not tax and financial incentives, but the presence of a creative workforce. When Pittsburgh-based Lycos moved its headquarters from Pittsburgh to Boston, Florida realized that, "The people weren't moving to the jobs, the jobs were moving to the people." What drew Lycos to Boston was its pool of intelligent, creative workers, and what draws creative people to cities is cultural life such as the presence of artisans, street performers, and an innovative music scene.

Cities need creative people, Florida says, because, "It's not who gets the companies who are going to be the winners. The cities and regions that are going to be the winners are the ones with the creative people. The ones who harness, mobilize, generate, attract, and retain those creative and talented human beings." Technology in and of itself, he says, is not what spurs economic development, people do.

Breaking down the workforce of industrialized countries into three groups: manufacturing, service, and creativity, Florida categorized scientists, researchers, people in the arts, technology, teachers, etc... as being part of the creative class. These people make up one-half to two-thirds of the nation's economy. "Creativity is a quintessential human characteristic... the real source of economic advantage is people."

According to Florida, the Creative Class is drawn by the "Three T's of Economic Development: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance." When those three things come together, creative people are bound to follow. Diversity, he says, is particularly important to cultivating a supportive, creative community. Mayors have an important role to play in creating a creative community because, "places, communities, towns, and regions have replaced corporations as the single most centralizing social and economic units of our time. In essence, we are the CEOs of the creative age." Urban areas and urban policy are vital to the Creative Class, and it is vital to the nation's economy that national leaders think about urban areas. Additionally, programs such as the arts and higher education that are being cut in the current budget crunch are vitally important to developing the Creative Class. "We have to make the case that creating livable cities is imperative. We're losing our competitive edge. It puts us in a perilous economic position."

Florida's message was not just relevant to U.S. mayors, but to those from around the world. In particular he said, "This is a transformation with global implications that is spreading all over the world." Florida reminded the international mayors that, "America holds no manifest destiny on creativity." He emphasized that immigration is key to encouraging and cultivating the Creative Class. He pointed out that, "in the 1980s and 1990s, more than one-third of all new businesses founded in Silicon Valley were founded by new immigrants."

Specifically in response to questions by Mayor Francoise Foning of Douala, Cameroon, Florida said, "Africa is one of the most creative continents on the face of the earth and in world history. Much of what we know as modern art and modern music forms were taken from Africa. I think that the creative age holds a tremendous opportunity for what we used to call the developing world as we realize that human creativity is the source of economic growth, and no one country has a stranglehold on it we can learn new approaches to development."

Florida closed by emphasizing the importance of an international dialogue between mayors on how to further encourage and develop the Creative Class.