Deconstructing the Creative Class

Steven Malanga at City Journal still is not convinced that Richard Florida knows what he’s talking about. Florida authored The Rise of the Creative Class, which argues, in essence, that economic development is directly proportional to the number of well-educated, creative workers a city attracts. Four years ago, Malanga pointed out many flaws in Florida’s thesis – primary among them that his case runs counter to the data.

A generation of leftish policy-makers and urban planners is rushing to implement Florida’s vision, while an admiring host of uncritical journalists touts it. But there is just one problem: the basic economics behind his ideas don’t work. Far from being economic powerhouses, a number of the cities the professor identifies as creative-age winners have chronically underperformed the American economy. And, although Florida is fond of saying that, today, “place matters” in attracting workers and business, some of his top creative cities don’t even do a particularly good job at attracting-or keeping-residents.

Now, Malanga says, Florida’s latest book, Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, takes a position contrary to his original thesis.

Trying to suss it all out, Florida decides that to be a real winner a region needs to have not just lots of creative-class types, but the right personality. And, he admits, changing a region’s personality to reprogram it for success is not easy.

All of this is fine, even intriguing, but one can’t help wondering about those mayors and governors who rushed to build bike paths and subsidize music festivals and are now being told that it isn’t quite that simple. Not only do they have to attract creative-class types, they also need to figure out how to change their cities’ or regions’ “personalities” to make sure that they get the desired economic payoff. One might have expected from Florida himself, if not a little contrition, then perhaps a moment’s pause to acknowledge that his latest theory could explain why his original list of creative-class cities contained a few economic clunkers. No doubt these cities merely lacked the proper “personality.”

If economics is truly the dismal science, Florida managed to wrap it in a pretty package. His half-baked theories had instant appeal to a powerful constituency. I don’t doubt the value of a thriving artistic community, and I’m all in favor of aesthetically pleasing public spaces, but at some point somebody has to grow some food or make a widget.