The Creative Class Theory - Case Study Example

The Creative Theory Richard Florida has been the initiator of the Creative Theory, which explains the way the major cities around the world could have been created. Though there have been several criticisms on this theory, still it has occupied a very important place in explaining the possible reasons, which could have resulted in the creation and the development of the urban and modern cities around the world. The Creative Class Theory dwells into the reasons behind the economic performance of the cities across the globe and also very well looks into the creativity as well as the ethnic diversity, which has resulted in the evolution of the modern cities. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Most of the researchers do feel that the cities are the important parts of any country, which play a very important role in the molding of the economy through urban development. Indeed it is the cities progress that really drives the country towards the prosperity and economic independence. Moreover any imbalance in the cities progress due to a lose in population or due to a fall in the employment ratio due to brain drain, can to a large extent affect the stability of the country as a whole. As a result of these factors the researchers have propounded the modern theories, to explain the reason for the growth of the country due to the urban development of the cities. This factor has been explained with the help of two different ways which is explained below. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) What the Firms and Business entities prefer As per the Creative Class Theory it strongly believes that the major business firms that are present in any country will strongly prefer in setting up their establishments in the regions with an urban backdrop, rather than in the rural areas. This is probably due to many reasons that very well include cost of transportation, the concentration of the labor markets, the availability of infrastructure and also the accessibility to the markets. The availability and the accessibility of the customers and the consumers to the products and the services that are rendered, also play a major role in the location of the business firms. The formation of such cities and the result of the urban development could be due to the fact of the combined affect, which is being produced because of knowledge flow and creation of innovative ideas, which result in the development of new products and services. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) The effect of the Preferences of the people The preference of the people is a very important factor, which goes a long way in the urban development of the cities. The cities serve like agglomerated areas, which help in providing the services as well as a wide variety of goods for the residents and to the visitors. Thus this kind of consumerism results in the growth of the economy, since it helps business to thrive and prosper. The growth of the industries also results in the increase in the employment opportunities for the people of the cities, which result in the urban development turning them into affluent economies. Thus the city centers serve to be the hub of attraction for the younger generation, who prefer to live a modern and much more fashionable lifestyle. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Most of the theories that have been put forward, do give very high importance to the role of the skilled workers and their availability in the development of the urban city areas. This strongly leads to the fact that the human capital plays a very significant role, in the development and the resulting growth of the urban economy. This has been the key factor that very well determines the location of the firms within the areas, which offer good supply of skilled labor. Thus the successive governments of most of the countries worldwide are trying to exploit this factor, to develop their economies and to boost the growth of the nation as a whole. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) It is to be noted that Florida’s Creative Class Theory has been considered to be an approach that very well serves as a link between these above said two approaches. Local Economic Development Theory This theory mainly stresses the need for maintaining the economic development in areas, where there is lot of stress produced on the existent economies, due to global economic happenings. Thus the governments of such regions that are economically much backward, try to take steps to boost the growth of the economy by developing certain strategies, that helps in the improvement of the standard of life in that locality. (www.rotman.utoronto.ca) Thus the most common strategies that are employed by such governments includes increasing the social capital, reducing the production costs, as well as the transportation and transactional costs, that are attached with the production and the manufacture of goods and rendering of the services in that particular region. An additional step that is involved in such strategies normally includes an increase of the innovativeness of the business involved and the development of new ideas. The governments involved in creation and execution of such strategies, also try to take the utmost care to retain the activities on the economic front in that particular region, by preventing the brain drain and boosting the policies of brain gain. (www.rotman.utoronto.ca) Technological advances have maintained the need for highly skilled labor force, for the development and for rendering stability to the economy of that region. Thus the main idea of the local economic development theory is to increase the urbanization and raise the skill requirements of the local economy of a particular region, with a view to increase the productivity of that region, which will result in the automatic economic development of that particular locality. The traditional Local development theory has also focused its attention, to improve the business potential in a particular region by giving subsidies and tax exemptions, with a view to attract investors and business establishments and industries. Thus this theory strongly believes that the most important and the foremost factors, that determine the location as well as the investment decisions of any industry, is totally based on the physical, social as well as the knowledge level qualities, that are prevalent in that particular region. (www.rotman.utoronto.ca) Fitting the Creative Class Theory into the Local Economic Development Theory The question comes to the point whether Florida’s theory, fits into the Local Economic Development Theory. It is seen that though Florida emphasizes more on the human element and the creativeness of the individuals and groups present in a particular region to bring about the economic development of that region, it does not give much importance to the other vital factors that have been dealt with in the Local Economic Development Theory. Florida believes that Bohemianism, ethnic diversity and clubbing together of the creative aspects of a large group of people from various fields, will result in attracting the business establishments in that region and result in the development of the super cities. But the Local Economic Development theory though does not neglect the human element in the development of a particular region, also ropes in the other factors like the global, social, resources and knowledge level qualities, that are available in that particular locality, to play a significant role in the development of that particular region. All these factors clubbed together will result in attracting investors and industries. (www.rotman.utoronto.ca) Thus Florida’s theory misses out on these grounds and hence does not fit into the Local Economic Development Theory due to such factors. Creative Class with regards to the Traditional Industrial Development Theories The Industrial Development theory states that, the industries and the business establishments in a particular place grow because of the quality that can be attributed to that particular place, rather than the presence of the creative class category of people. Indeed it is to be rightly noted that though a particular place or city may have very high creative people, still if the city lacks the resources that are the base of any modern industry, then the industries would not be attracted to such places. This makes it mandatory that the place chosen by any industry should be attractive, with some kind of resource that would enable the industry to survive for a long time. For example the cities in Dubai, Singapore and many more, have developed into major cities not because they have the creative class people or the human capital present in them. It is only because of the suitability and the development of the harbors of these two countries, that has attracted international trade to these cities. Indeed the inflow of the creativity and the creative class have followed after a long time, after these two cities started getting international attention and major business establishments started to set up the bases over there. When it comes to countries like India, it is to be noted that when the country as a whole is taken into account, there is not much development with regards to the hi- tech industries. But when it comes to the regions of Bangalore and that of Hyderabad, then there is appreciable development of the hi-tech industries in this case. (www.findarticles.com) Composition of the Creative Class Indeed the Creative Class Theory has been very well formulated by Florida and takes into account the common components like the agglomeration, the significance of the human capital and also the importance of the spillovers of knowledge, resulting in the formation of new sets of ideas and innovations. Apart from these common ideas that are highlighted in most of the traditional theories, Florida has formulated approaches that are based on the likes of the skilled workers of the younger generation, that has resulted from the clubbing together of the consumer and the bohemian culture. It is these approaches of Florida towards the explanation of the urban performance, which has made his ideas noteworthy. The Creativity Class Theory of Richard Florida has in turn become a milestone for the study of the inter relationship between the creation of hi tech industries, the diversity of the society and also the human capital and Bohemianism. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Thus he shows through the studies done in more than forty five cities present across the US that the presence of a highly concentrated group of Bohemians in a particular area, will attract people with various kinds of talents and also result in the major industries setting up their bases in such areas. This is due to the presence of a huge human capital and large inflow of innovations and ideas. This creative group is in turn being split into two by Florida, who clubs together the scientists, actors, poets, engineers into one group that forms the super creative core group, while the second group called as the creative professionals includes the service, health care and legal professionals. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Indeed Florida’s Creative members get involved with a wide variety of works in different industries, which range from technology to the entertainment, journalism to finance and from the manufacturing industries to the field of arts. As a result the members belonging to the creative class in general do not think themselves to belong to a particular group but still they do share the common ethos which values the creativity, diversity and individuality. (www.washingtonmonthly.com) Such classes of people as per Florida like to live in the city that has got a very good cosmopolitan population. The other characteristic of such people is that, they crave for sexual and cultural diversity, liberty of thoughts and also the existence of the most ultra modern facilities. Thus the economy of such cities will become very strong and will quickly turn out to be the best in the country because more jobs will be created due to the presence of the skilled and highly creative people. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Creative Class Theory translating into Policy Florida through his Bohemian theory drives the point that, any city with a large bohemianism population will in turn become a very well developed urban region due to the presence of a highly skilled labor force, which comes from ethnically diversified backgrounds. This according to him will attract the hi tech industries and business firms to start operations in the city. Florida has created a Bohemianism index so as to measure the creativity of the people, who are settled in an area. By making correlation measurements Florida finds that there could be a slender connection between Bohemia, technology and as well as the diversity of a particular region. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Hence Florida’s Creative Class Theory strongly believes that, the absence of such creative people in a particular city will make it under developed for a long time. As a result of the above said factors it can very well be concluded that as per Richard Florida, the urban development of a particular city can be very much correlated with the Creative Class. But in the modern day world it is very difficult to turn the Florida’s Creative Class Theory, into practical policies due to the limitations that are faced by the theory. As a result of this it is very difficult and rare to find the applicability of the creative class theory in the day today life. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) As per Florida more and more establishments around the world are giving much importance to the ethos and are themselves making changes, so as to adapt themselves for attracting more of these sets of creative class employees to their business. It has been well established that the regions within a country that have totally succeeded in attracting as well as retaining the creative set of people will be on the paths of prosperity. (www.washingtonmonthly.com) Indeed it has been regarded that most of the creative people do form clusters not because of the simple reason that, they like to be one with the likeminded counterparts nor do they have any attraction to the cosmopolitan lifestyle with the modern amenities but because of the sole reason that, they settle in places where the industries that employ them are present. As a result both of them cluster together to form a long lasting bond, that will result in the flow of innovations and the economic prosperity in that region. (www.creativeclass.com) Thus though Florida’s theory does support certain cases of economic development, still they cannot be considered as a base for the economic development of that particular region. Hence it can very well be concluded that, the Creative Class Theory proposed by Florida is unimportant in the modern day world and good results cannot be achieved by its application. Criticisms to the Creative Class Theory Researchers have done consistent tests to prove the validity of Florida’s theory and have come to a conclusion that, the Bohemian trend as put forward by him does not hold good in most of the cases. Their argument is that the cities may not be the most preferred places, where the creative class of people will like to live and there had been many cases, wherein these set of people have settled in the suburbs. Though big centers do attract people like the younger generation professionals, they necessarily need not be the people belonging to the creative class which contradicts the theory put forward by Florida. Richard Florida tried to make big logical leaps when he jumped to the conclusion that, there exists some kind of connection which linked the economic growth, to the Bohemian and other types of indexes. He very well concluded that, the economic stability of any city was brought about by the talent of the creative workers, rather than the industries that were operating in that city. (www.manhattan-institute.org) This has been tested by most of the experts and it has been seen that, Florida’s theories do not stand good for the major cities in the US and UK. Florida’s theory becomes more complex and is found to hold good only in certain cases. Thus though Florida’s works on the creative class can often be classified as not applicable to most of the cities that have developed, still his views about the creativity flow, human capital and ethnic diversity does hold good. It is to be noted that Florida believed that there is some relationship between the creative kind of activities and also the level of prosperity prevailing in major cities. But this statement was found to be true only in certain cases, while the majority of the cases in the modern day cannot be explained using this theory. (www.cjrs-rcsr.org) Most of Florida’s critics try to find faults with his theory, stating that it only deals with the explanation of some people in the art field. In fact many of the critics have been proved to be wrong because of the fact that, Florida’s main aim has been to promote the economic development that makes the governments of particular regions, to concentrate mainly to attract as well as to retain people and also the business establishments. ( www.creativeclass.com) As a result there could be several negative implications when it comes to implementing the Creative Class Theory proposed by Florida to the modern day cities, since there are many external and internal factors, which play a very important role in the development and prosperity of a particular city. Though Florida tries to escape from the partisan politics and tries to keep a safe distance from them, still he does not succeed in doing so. This is because today’s economy of any country or city is totally dependant on the politics present in that particular country or region and also the policies followed by the government. The critics of the Florida theory cannot be stated as squelchers, since their judgments and the conclusions drawn out regarding his theory come out to be true. Thus when the local governments turn towards the creative class, there seems to be some sense since the economic stability of any region is more dependant on the industries and the skilled labor and human capital that is available. Apart from this there have been several exceptions wherein the urban growth had been due to factors resulting from macro economic contributions or could also be as a result due to the large public spending. Florida has been very successful in defining the creative class but through the years he has not been successful in defining the development and the economic stability, which has been experienced by most cities in the modern day world. Hence Florida’s work could be successfully applied and explain the developments in certain cities during certain time periods. References: Nathan, Max “The Wrong Stuff? Creative Class Theory and Economic Performance in UK Cities” , February19. 2011 Tassonyi, Almos “Local Economic Development Theory and the Ontario Experience” , February20. 2011 Florida, Richard “The Rise of the Creative Class – Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race” Washington Monthly, May2002, , February20. 2011 Florida, Richard”The Great Creative Class Debate: Revenge of the Squelchers” July 2004 , February21. 2011 Malanga, Steven “The Curse of the Creative Class,” The Wall Street Journal, January 19. 2004 , February21. 2011 Florida, Richard “The World is Spiky,” The Atlantic Monthly, October 2005 , February21. 2011 Florida, Richard “The New Megalopolis,” Newsweek, July 2006 , February21. 2011 Read More