Will 'Cool' Cities Rule The Economy?

"A few years ago, a little-known academic named Richard Florida turned the economic development world upside down by publishing a book called The Rise of the Creative Class. In a nutshell, Florida's argument was that to be successful today, cities have to be cool. The engine of the American economy, he claimed, was creativity."

Florida is correct to a point, writes William Fulton, the publisher of California Planning & Development Report and economic development columnist for Governing magazine. But there is no economic development panacea, Fulton notes. Moreover, Florida's approach has gotten boiled down by both detractors and ill-informed supporters as little more than tourism and entertainment.

What's most unfortunate, Fulton writes, is that the discussion as devolved into a them-versus-us debate that is not useful to anyone truly interested in economic development.

Thanks to Paul Shigley