What is Creative Class Theory?
• Creative Class Theory is a concept put forth by Richard Florida in his book “Rise of the Creative Class”. In that book he proposes that a new working class has arisen made up of younger, educated people who, by sheer force of their numbers and creative skills, cause significant economic growth when concentrated in specific locales. Many of their creative skills can be utilized without regard to proximity to traditional economic infrastructure (e.g., close to a factory or a corporate headquarters.) As a result they chose where to live based on a combination of lifestyle preferences and job availability. This causes cities with large numbers of people within the creative class to become “cool cities” because of the array of activities, services, culture and lifestyles that grow in the community to support their needs.
