Creative Class

Richard Florida is a professor of regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon University. He is best known for his work in developing his concept of the creative class and its ramifications in urban regeneration. Simply framed, he believes cities attracting gays, bohemians, and ethnic minorities are the new economic powerhouses because they are also the places where creative workers, the kind who start and staff innovative, fast-growing companies want to live. To lure this workforce, Florida argues, cities must dispense with stuffy old theories of economic development like the notion that low taxes are what draw in companies and workers and instead must spend heavily on cultural amenities and pursue progressive social legislation. Researchers have critiqued Florida's work for shortcomings in its methodology questioned his empirical evidence, suggesting his observed correlations may be spurious, overly simplistic, or even that the official Standard Occupational Classification System data-sets he uses may be questionable. His first book, the Rise of the Creative Class came at the tail of the dot-com boom, and the conditions it describes may no longer exist. In his sequel book, Florida argues that the health and growth of the U.S. "creative class" is at threat because potential immigrants to the US cannot easily obtain entry-permits post 9/11.