One can look at the economic downturn as a depression, or one giant market correction.  We simply have way too much retail - take a look at the chart below.  Amazing isn’t it?  The message may be clear that the era of big boxes and shopping malls has peaked, but the question is, what’s the next generation of more sustainable retail going to look like?

For starters, look at the top shopping districts around the world that have stood the test of time, and you’ll often find pedestrian-only

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Who would have thought we’d be seeing ads like these from Fortune 500 companies envisioning a more sustainable, yet creative culture and economy?...

“Remember the Joneses and all their stuff? And how people were always trying to keep up? Well some of us woke up instead. We no longer want big and flashy. We want real, true and honest.“

[Through recessions…]“...people start enjoying the small things in life. A home-cooked meal. Time with loved ones. Appreciating the things we do have, the

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Some pretty heady words, I know, but for many creatives, the last thing they want is a job - a paid position of regular employment. Why? Because they’re entrepreneurs, free agents, independents… and they’re looking for projects and transactions, not jobs.

Now, combine that with this research from the Creative Class Group concluding that the greater the % of the creative class in the workplace, the greater the city’s economy, and you have to begin to wonder…

Should economic development focus

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Based on the previous entry of applying the Long Tail to building a creative economy, here’s a video illustrating how it could work…

Phase I. To grow a creative economy and culture, establish a service to link creatives with companies needing creative talent, whether as employees or vendors. This is the ‘big head’.

Phase II. Develop a website to capture the Long Tail, that is, the 95% of the creatives that don’t have connections to the companies and organizations that can hire them, but have

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Presently, economic development - “efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base” - is managed by government agencies. Then there’s the chamber of commerce, a network of business owners mainly focused on improving their own members’ economic bottom line.

In the age of convergence, expect to see a combination of the two emerge, where creatives take it upon themselves

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Louisiana is one of the few states that has a very clear program on establishing natural cultural districts for creatives. In 2007, the state legislature approved the Louisiana Cultural Districts Program, also referred to as Cultural Products Districts because of the program’s emphasis on tangible products. As is stated on the state’s website, “The primary goal of the Cultural Districts program is revitalizing communities by creating hubs of cultural activity.“

So what is the state offering?

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The creative economy is often ineffectively defined by the creative skills/talent: media, film, design, music, visual art, etc. However, those are arguably just the means, and what’s overlooked are the cultural products that result from a convergence of those creative skills. Now that’s what the creative economy is about.

To understand in greater detail how creatives with talent transform their skills into cultural products that grow an economy, you’ll want to read Elizabeth Currid’s The

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