1 post tagged “economic theory”

richard florida is an american urban studies theorist with a primary focus on social and economic theory.  if you aren't familiar with his name you may be familiar with his work about the "creative class" and the two books he wrote about them called The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class, both of which were national bestsellers.  his overall theory from those books in the words of wikipedia are "that metropolitan regions with high concentrations of high-tech workers, artists, musicians and a group he describes as "high bohemians", correlate with a higher level of economic development. florida posits the theory that the creative class fosters an open, dynamic, personal and professional environment.  this environment, in turn, attracts more creative people, as well as businesses and capital.  he suggests that attracting and retaining high-quality talent, versus a singular focus on infrastructure projects such as sports stadiums, iconic buildings and shopping centers would be a better primary use of city's regeneration resources for long-term prosperity."  some say that this is what is happening in pittsburgh currently, with a large push of high-tech companies into the city which will hopefully create some revival amongst a city with one of the higher age populations in the country.  being a professor at carnegie mellon university's heinz school i wonder if his teaching started to rub off on those in city offices.

florida's new book about urban renewal and talent migration called Who's Your City? examines how and why people choose the places they live and how those selections affect things like real estate and their community.  below is a map displaying where the "creative class" is centered in the US - if you follow the link to his website Who's Your City you can check out some of his other maps and findings.