Florida: Creativity Drives Our Economy

SAN DIEGO-The recent recession was “not a crisis, but a reset, and those who understand the reset will prosper; those who don't will be left behind.” So said urbanist Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, global research professor at New York University and founder of the Creative Class Group, which works closely with governments and companies worldwide. Florida gave a keynote address here yesterday during the PCBC homebuilding trade show in which he redefined what makes America great and what our current economic process is about.

Eschewing the words “recession” and “depression,” Florida reminded attendees of how this country historically moved from an agrarian society to an industrial one to one in which “the mind itself has become the means of production.” He spoke of how we once were a nation of factory workers in an old industrial society, but now only 6% of Americans actually touch things in factories. “Human creativity is the driving force of our economy. We will add 10 million jobs in the creative class in the next decade.”

Creativity is the great leveler and the source of our economic growth, even transforming agriculture and elevating the food industry into a “farm to table” industry where microbrews cost $6 a bottle, he said. And this energy emanates from the cities and suburbs, which are really one and the same. “We have to get over this nonsensical verbiage of cities or suburbs; it's cities and suburbs. We have to build functional megaregions.”

Florida maintained that cities are the real source of innovation, possessing a quick “metabolism” that enhances creativity. “How are we going to rebuild our suburbs” to revive their metabolism, he asked. Cities need the green lifestyle and access to the waterfront that the suburbs—particularly the coastal suburbs—offer, he added. “What people prefer is all the same: a safe, secure, crime-free environment; lots of economic opportunity; openness to all people; and quality of place.”

Florida also pointed out that 57 metro areas have seen their core rebound, and he echoed what many commercial real estate industry executives are saying about mixed-use, walkable environments near public transit being the next wave of development.