Nobody knows what the “creative class” really is, or who’s in it.


Much has been written about the “creative class”, a term coined by Richard Florida in his 2003 book. Portland’s mayor excitedly dined with Florida. Local (and national) leaders began to almost immediately sing the praises of the creative class and how desperately Portland needed this “class” of people to make Portland a world class/thriving/hip/your adjective here city.

I’m here to tell you: it’s a marketing gimmick. There is no creative class. Florida and others have applied the term to everyone from web programmers to electricians to engineers and teachers. In a very small nutshell, the so-called creative class is anybody who approaches their job creatively. The latest fad is to focus on this and back away from the creative class being about what you do; instead, it’s about how you do it.

Everybody’s bought into it, it seems, adapting the term whenever convenient to describe an event or group of people. Strangely, all definitions and descriptions of the creative class refer to people who live in dense urban environments–mid-to-large-sized cities. Florida explicitly shakes his head sadly at the rural (and even suburban) dwellers. Poor them–not so creative class.

So, why do we do it? Why do politicians try and shape public policy based on a vague notion of class and questionable, almost data-free economic models found in a book written by an economics professor?

The answer, I think, is simple: cities want a long-term tax base, so cities now compete like corporations to attract customers. City leaders live by a simple creed–grow or die. Unless cities are seeking ways to keep growth occurring, there’s a an almost paralyzing fear that the city will fall into economic and social decline. So, cities look for any way they can to promote the city, to become, for no other apparent reason, a “world class city.” Without younger citizens who have a long life of solid tax contribution ahead of them, city fortunes are fragile and fickle. Until “creative class” was invented these were called the “middle class.”

Unfortunately for Portland, the sizzle of attracting a vaguely hipster-esque “creative class” isn’t providing much steak. The middle class is going away, making Portland not a hipster haven, but an ever more sharply-divided city of rich and poor. Worse yet, this is a national and global trend. For those paying attention, something big is happening.