The Rise of the Creative Class

Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class" received much attention because the notions it suggests fly in the face of what has been considered to be good public planning policy. Instead of attracting a steady base of families, as has been the case for decades, Florida says that cities ought to learn from attract what he deems the "creative class" and that the attractiveness of a city to this class of people with high-tech skills and off-beat interests are precisely more off-beat people. These cities (such as Austin, TX and Madison, WI) ought to have a high tolerance for varying races/ethnicities and sexual preference. At the time that this theory was formulated, the country was enjoying the benefits of the dot-com boom and it was the people in the employ of these same companies that were part of Florida's "creative class". The dot-com era is over, their demise having caused the recession that only became worsened by the events of September 11, 2001, and cities seeking to improve themselves merely through attracting the hipster set have seen the overall health of the city decrease even as the parts favored by the "creative class" may have flourished. Certainly this is not a catch-all as some cities have weathered the past decade quite nicely, but for cities to pin all their hopes on the promise of trendseters making their cities viable is not wise. It should be but a piece of a larger, much more complicated puzzle that includes addressing public policy, property taxes, improving education and public transport among many other variables.