Florida recognises people, and particularly creative and artistic people, as essential factors in the economic growth and competitive advantage of cities.[1] His ‘creative capital’ theory builds on human capital theory that identifies talented workers as the drivers of regional economic growth.[2] However, the theory of creative capital contends that it is a particular type of human capital, creative people, that drives growth and that these people have specific preferences for qualities that attract them to live in a city.[3] He has discovered particular evidence that indicates that a high concentration of bohemians in an environment is correlated to a high level of innovation as well as a significantly concentrated presence of high human capital individuals and high technology industry. [4] Florida implies that the presence of creative people in a city is in a sense self-perpetuating, as it continues to attract more talented and creative workers as well as high technology workers and industry.[5] His theory differs from previous conceptions of industry and the choices companies make about locating, as being the determinants of a region’s economic growth. Florida argues instead that companies locate according to the levels of concentration of the talented workers they seek to employ.[6] The better a city is able to attract these people and mobilise their talent, the more successful it will be at expanding its economy and competing both nationally and globally.[7]
Gertler highlights various areas where the arts and creativity has a positive impact on city prosperity. He credits the arts with the ability to enhance the ‘innovativeness of individual workers, firms, and other organisations that comprise our urban regions.’[8] By this he suggests that the arts can impact on development across all industry sectors and in this way improve the ‘dynamism, resilience, and overall competitiveness of the national economy.’[9] Gertler relies on research conducted by Ann Markusen and David King which documented the impact of artistic workers throughout the economy of the United States. This research identified five key ways in which artists raised the overall productivity and earnings in regional economies:[10]
- By ‘exporting’ their work (i.e., by selling their products and services to markets outside of the regional economy, thereby drawing income into the region);
- By using their creativity to enhance the success of other products and services in many other sectors of the local economy;
- By purchasing specialized inputs and services from local suppliers, often inducing significant upstream innovation in the process;
- By helping employers across the regional economy to recruit talent when it is clear that the region offers an abundance of artistic and creative activity;
- By enhancing the entrepreneurial culture of the region’s economy, since many artists are self-employed.
In addition to the economic impact of the arts, Gertler also points to the importance of the sector in its capacity to improve the quality of life for a broad spectrum of the citizens of a city.[11]
The figures showing the size and growth of the arts sector in the regionally economies of Toronto and London provide a compelling example of the potential the arts has in augmenting the economy as a whole. Toronto is the largest Canadian centre for employment in the creative industries, occupying six percent of its total labour force. The sector is the fastest growing industry within Toronto’s economy, growing at an annual rate of four percent, which outstrips the growth of any other sector and is also a higher rate than employment and population growth. The sector contributes approximately nine billion Canadian dollars in annual gross domestic product to the regional economy and can account for the arrival of nineteen million tourists each year. London’s achievements are even more impressive. It receives more international visitors than any other city in the world, which it credits to its arts and cultural sector; [12]pointing to its high intellectual capital score and a creative industries sector which employs one in every eight Londoners.[13] It identifies the tendency of innovativeness of the sector to spill over into other industries, which is why, it says, that the headquarters of many large multi-national companies have chosen to locate in its city. [14] At times the demand in the United Kingdom for creative products has been so high that it even outstripped the demand for food.[15] Both cities agree that this level of growth in the sector would not have occurred without targeted support from local government and regional organisations.
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[1] Florida, p. 50
[2] Ibid., p. 32
[3] Ibid., p. 34
[4] Ibid., p. 125
[5] Ibid., p. 123
[6] Ibid., p. 139
[7] Ibid., p. 29
[8] Meric S. Gertler (2004) Creative Cities: What are they for, how do they work, and how do we build them? Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks. p. 1
[9] Ibid., p. 1
[10] Ann Markusen and David King (2003) The Artistic Dividend: The Arts’ Hidden Contributions to Regional
Development. Minneapolis, MN. AA1, in Gertler, p. 4
[11] Gertler, p. 1
[12] Freeman, p. 82
[13] Ibid., p. 3
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid., p. 15