Florida pushes his "creative class".... Sunday, February 09, 2003 Beware of fads. That's the message I get from reading about Richard Florida's efforts to shape the urban economic development agenda. Richard Florida promotes the idea of a "creative class" as a key to future economic development. (The creative class represents the 30% or so of the workforce that "thinks creatively" for a living.) But this idea is much like the "enterprise zones" of the 1980's: a simple-minded solution to a complex challenge. While there is some truth to Florida's approach (as there was with enterprise zones), there is a real danger in distorting this truth and drawing too much from it. Ambition outruns the facts. One problem is that the Creative Class implies that 70% of our workforce is "not creative"...clearly a wrong-headed notion. (On a deeper level, Florida is talking class stuctures at a time when these structures are increasing irrelevant. One of the major challenges we face as a country is shared prosperity; Florida's notion of the Creative Class makes this challenge all the more difficult to address. My advice to Florida: Beware of unintended consequences.) A recent article explores how some cities across the country are trying to promote their support of gays. One of Richard Florida's points, as he travels the country, is that tolerance of gays is one indicator of a community's embrace of diversity. Diversity, in turn, drives creativity. And creativity drives prosperity. In the real world of EDPros, we face political leaders who have little understanding of the dynamics of economic development. They latch on to simple ideas. And that...in the end... is my real concern. Political leaders will send EDPros chasing down blind alleys all in the hope of finding the simple answer. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

The Web EDPro Weblog