Creative Class

Urban Design model by Richard Florida.

http://www.creativeclass.org/

In his 2002 study, Florida concluded that the Creative Class would be the leading force of Economic Growth in the economy expected to grow by over 10 million jobs in the next decade, which would now be the present day (2012) and equal almost 40% of the current population... The Creative Class is not a class of workers among many, but a group believed to bring economic growth to countries that can attract its members... Florida's use of census and economic data has shown that cities which attract and retain creative residents prosper, while those that do not stagnate... Research involving the preferences and values of this new socioeconomic class has shown that where people choose to live can no longer be predicted according to conventional industrial theories (such as "people will go to where the jobs/factories are"). Sociologists and urban theorists have noted a gradual and broad shift of values over the past decade. Creative workers are looking for cultural, social, and technological climates in which they feel they can best "be themselves". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_class

Are these the BoBos? It almost sounds like the entire White Collar group....

city rankings: http://www.creativeclass.org/rankings.shtml

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0205.florida.html

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2002/06/06/florida/

Soho Dojo page

a bit different from the Cultural Creative group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_class In CitiesAndTheCreativeClass, Florida devoted several chapters to a discussion of the three main prerequisites of creative cities--though there are many additional qualities which distinguish creative magnets. Basically, for a city to become a magnet for the creative class, it must be an example of "the three T's" of Talent (have a highly talented/educated/skilled population), Tolerance (have a diverse community, which has a "live and let live" ethos), and Technology (have the technological Infrastructure necessary to fuel an Entrepreneur-ial Culture).