The question for creative businesses is not if a cool place becomes popular and gentrified, but what to do when it is.

One answer is to join an artists cooperative and work with a group like Artspace that provides such attainable housing.

Another is to establish your own cooperative of sorts via a beta community, where you decide with a group what kinds of residential and commercial tenants to have, along the same lines as artist cooperatives do.

The best individual answer for your business

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You’ve all heard the qualitative stories about how artists and creatives move into a neighborhood and the property values start rising (then unfortunately, get priced out). However, we finally have quantitative evidence, as you can see by the chart above.

The hard proof comes as a result of a study released just this month by no other than Richard Florida, along with Charlotta Mellander, called There Goes the Neighborhood: How and Why Bohemians, Artists and Gays Effect Regional Housing Values

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We’ve gone through a series of very practical, tangible descriptions, profiles and case studies of the creatives, open source communities, and placemaking, but what’s missing perhaps is a more philosophic, abstract description of what kinds of communities this all represents.

For that I present the definition of open creative communities by Mark Kuznicki, a researcher, writer and strategy consultant in the areas of creative industries, economic development, innovation and cultural policy. 

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Who are the people that want to live in a ‘cool town’?  What are people in the creative class like?  If you’re a city official or business leader looking to attract creative entrepreneurs to spur job growth and grow a vibrant cultural scene, what mindset should you have when reaching out to them?  Rather than provide emotionless statistics, here are some values questions to be aware of to ensure you’re empathizing and not sending the wrong subconscious messages:

- Are you a regular visitor to

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People often ask me what I read on a daily basis as far as keeping on top of the industry.  I’ll tell you what exists, and what should exist.

Daily Sources that Exist:

The Creativity Exchange: This is Dr. Richard Florida’s blog on the creative class, and it’s fairly new. If you want to understand the market, this is where to go.
Planetizen: This is the portal for any news pertaining to visionary placemaking, cities, development and planning. It’s a bit comprehensive, so you still have to

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Did you know Paris, unlike New York, London and Tokyo, is not a 24/7 city? Most restaurants close on Sunday and do not serve after 10:30 pm in the evening; supermarkets close at 9 pm; long working hours are unheard of; the subway closes between 1 am and 5 am…

Does that make a difference? Tremendously, according to Christian Sautter, the deputy mayor in charge of economic development and finance, “When we came into office in 2001, we had a city proud of its history, its beauty, its tourism,

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Being that New York City is the pinnacle of urban living in the U.S., ever wonder what it’s current creative class strategy is?  The answer is provided by Beth Siegel, president of Mt. Auburn Associates where she provided a creative sector economic development strategy for NYC.  She also headed evaluations for the U.S. Economic Development Administration.  You can listen to her via her Smart City Radio interview.

Beth’s major accomplishment may be motivating Mayor Bloomberg in establishing a

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Because of the name, creative class, many perceive it to consist of those only in the arts, music, design and entertainment.  Not true at all.  Here’s the official definition from the author that started it all with Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida:  “I define the core of the Creative Class to include people in science and engineering, architecture and design, education, arts, music and entertainment, whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or new creative

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Continuing our look at yesterday’s entry on Maine’s Midcoast Magnet group of proactive creatives and entrepreneurs, here’s a look at where they perceive things are, where they’d like it to be, and how they plan to get there.

First, 400 of them were surveyed, and below are percentages of how many of them felt the particular asset was important to whether they stayed or left, followed by what’s actually there.  You can see why people flee.

Cost of living:  90%
- Perceived as above average: 

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The creative class population of Maine’s northern MidCoast region longed for more of the kinds of jobs, housing and entertainment/nightlife they felt was necessary to retain them and attract others to Maine, so they took it upon themselves to make that message clear and established Midcoast Magnet, “a non-profit organization of people dedicated to vibrant culture, entrepreneurship, and bringing people together socially and professionally”.  The governor was so impressed that he had the state

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Just as Richard Florida’s research shows jobs follow talent, CS, the only workplace/living room for the creative/entrepreneurial community of its kind (profiled yesterday) would not have happened without talent.

The initial talent in C3’s case is Bob Mooney, chairman of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Andy Stefanovich, ‘In Charge of What’s Next’ at Play, an award-winning local creative consulting firm and a model of innovation themselves.

Business groups were already committed

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The creatives in Tampa Bay, FL knew they were important to their city, they just didn’t know how to communicate that… until Richard Florida, author of the best-seller Rise of the Creative Class, presented to 500 of them in April 2003.

Later that year, CreativeTampaBay was founded, a nonprofit “dedicated to connecting and energizing the community’s assets to cultivate an environment that encourages innovation, expands the economy and is a magnet for creative people.“

Their principles include:

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Just a few decades ago if you were a bohemian, you’d have to travel to Haight Ashbury, San Francisco or Greenwich Village to feel at home.  Today, every town has its own ‘Greenwich Village’.  What happened?  That’s the underlying question that Vanderbilt professor Richard Lloyd answers in his new book, Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City.

The simple answer?  Because our evolving creative economy depends on it.  The information economy has spawned the rise of media,

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Yesterday I re-introduced Richard Florida, and as promised, here’s his most current list, as featured in the November issue of Fast Company, of the hottest cities for creative types like yourself.

In no particular order:

Sacramento, CA - WIne is big, the downtown is coming around, and outdoor recreation abounds.
Phoenix, AZ - Artists like its free spirit, biotech is booming downtown, and yes, few rainy days.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons are big on enterpreneurship, really big. Not so much on

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You may notice the term ‘creative class‘ pop up here and there, with a category on this website covering it.  I first mentioned Richard Florida - the person who coined and legitimized the term - way back in April 2003, so it’s time for a re-introduction, especially since the creative class best defines the market most attracted to ‘cooltowns’.

Richard is an economist and the author of the best-seller Rise of the Creative Class and its sequel Flight of the Creative Class.  The first book

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Ever played one of those games where you had to find the list of items that were blended into the picture?

a. Can you find the entrepreneurial workplace where a dozen creative businesses collaborate and celebrate in a living room setting?

b. Can you find the 24-hour diner that’s filled to capacity on a Wednesday morning at 2 am?

c. Can you find the national chain that doesn’t quite belong?

d. Can you find what one magazine called one of the best bars in America?

e. Can you find the

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Artscape, a nonprofit in Toronto, Canada that develops both physical and virtual artist communities, felt the need to prove that the right buildings jumpstarted the economy around it.

So they documented the economic impact in the areas surrounding their projects, and here’s some of the not-so-surprising findings:

In Toronto, in the five years after Artscape development openings, one surrounding area had an increase of approximately $9M/year and another had $5M/year in new retail sales.

In

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As posted yesterday, affordability and transportation/convenience were long-time Brooklyn assets that did little for economic rejunevation until safety began to improve.  But how and why did these neighborhoods become safer?

As is more than well known by now, it was just a matter of time before the artists began moving in.  The number of designers increased 2.5 times from 1980 to 2000, while authors/writers more than doubled from 1990 to 2000.  Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brookln, held

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Depends on where you are.  This photo was taken at 2 am, last week Wednesday night/Thursday morning at The Diner in Adams Morgan, Washington DC.

Since evidence shows that the creative class drives the economy...

Question: Is your city attracting creatives?

Answer:

- Does it have a place like The Diner that looks like this at 2 am on a typical late Wednesday night?
- Is that venue an independent restaurant like this one, and not a Denny’s, IHop, or Ruby Tuesdays?
- Is it in a cluster/main

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Some small towns that are looking to boost sagging economies and abandoned downtowns have committed to attracting the creatives. The results have been more than positive, as this on New York’s progressive small towns illustrates.

Within 10 years, Hudson’s neglected downtown Warren Street became a vibrant destination by establishing 19 galleries, and 40 restaurants and shops focused on the arts community. Since 2001, home value increased 25%, the largest growth in decades. Hudson

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It’s quite simple really.  Cities prosper when companies create jobs.  Companies create jobs when they provide a far better service or product than any other in the world.  To do that, they need the best talent in the world.  The companies and cities (and countries) that ‘get this’ will be the eventual leaders, both economically and socially.  For instance, the most successful major league baseball teams attract talent from all over the world, while New York City isn’t the world’s most

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Richard Florida’s latest book, The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent just came out three days ago, the global-focused follow-up to his 2002 business best-seller, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life.

In his first book, Florida expounded on the “three T’s”: talent, technology and tolerance, as the means to creativity ultimately leading to economic performance.  The mayor of Denver and Governor of

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The Renaissance in Florence.  Silicon Valley.  Japan post WWII.  New York City at the turn of the century.  Paris and Impressionism.  Some rather extreme bursts of creativity over about 40 years at a time.  Coincidence?  Historian Peter Hall doesn’t think so, and outlines the common elements in his stellar book, Cities In Civilization.

1. Disorder. As Chris Gibbons, who pioneered economic gardening puts it, economic growth happens at the edge of chaos.

2. Clustering. Popularized by business

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Continuing yesterday’s blog, here’s the rest of Fast Company magazine’s rulesfor establishing a creative community.

6. Teach them a new language - The creative community needs to learn the ‘language’ of placemaking and economic development in real estate and economic terms (ie new urbanism, economic gardening, so that they can apply their market insight into the built environment.

7. Allow time for blue-sky thinking - This is the importance of third places, where creatives share ideas and

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Hope you enjoyed your vacation.

Here’s a set of resolutions for building a creative community that sparks investment, vitality and positive growth around it when there is none to little to begin with, based on Fast Company’s magazine’s rules for establishing a creative community (at a smaller scale.)

1. Recruit for diversity, hire for philosophy - Start with a diverse group of risk-takers who relish the idea of initiating a new community of creativity and innovation.
2. Rehab the

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