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Article Excerpt
Abstract
This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the creative class in the Canadian periphery. It builds on innovation systems and institutional geography literatures to argue that, because of its transformative role, the creative class in the periphery is a pivotal factor of regional reinvention, no less than in metropolis. The paper advances the two-ring-four-sector approach to define the creative class structure. It extends the creative class metrics to measure four 'sectors' of the creative class: scientists, leaders, entrepreneurs and bohemia. The empirical part of the paper applies the extended creative class metrics at two different scales. The findings for 288 Canadian regions suggest that the geographic distribution of the creative capital is uneven and heavily clustered in major urban centres. However, some frontier regions appear to perform exceptionally well in all rankings. The in-depth analysis of 34 communities in the Canadian North identifies creative clusters in economically, geographically and politically privileged communities that serve as creative 'hot spots'. Thus, contrary to the metropolitan bias, these results indicate that peripheral communities may not be 'hopeless places' fully deprived of the creative class. Creative 'hot spots' beyond metropolis do exist, and could become the centres of regional reinvention, if appropriate policies are introduced in support.
Resume
Cet article presente une analyse exploratoire de la classe creative dans la peripherie canadienne. En se basant sur la litterature portant sur les systemes innovateurs et la geographie institutionnelle, nous proposons que de part son r"le dans la transformation, la classe creative situee dans les regions peripheriques est fondamentale a la reinvention regionale, au meme titre que dans les metropoles. Dans l'article, une approche reposant sur deux cercles et quatre secteurs est proposee pour definir la structure de la classe creative. Elle permet d'elargit la notion de classe creative afin d'en mesurer quatre 'secteurs': les scientifiques, les chefs de fil, les entrepreneurs et les bohemes. La partie empirique de 1' article utilise cette approche a deux echelles differentes. Menee aupres de 288 regions canadiennes, l'analyse suggere que la repartition geographique du capital creatif n'est pas uniforme et qu'elle est fortement concentree dans les centres urbains majeurs. Toutefois, les regions peripheriques ont une tres bonne performance dans toutes les analyses. Une analyse plus approfondie de 34 communautes dans le nord canadien nous permet d'identifier des grappes creatives dans des communautes ayant des positions privilegiees sur les plans economique, geographique et politique, et ces communautes representent des > creatifs. Ainsi, et en contradiction au biais metropolitain, ces resultats indiquent que les communautes peripheriques ne sont pas necessairement des milieux sans espoir et entierement depourvues de la classe creative. Des > creatifs au-dela des metropoles existent, et pourraient devenir des centres de reinvention regionale, du moment que des politiques appropriees sont introduites afin de les appuyer.
Introduction
In the last few years, Richard Florida's creative class thesis (Florida 2002b), inspired the interest and criticism of scholars all across economic geography and regional science. Following Florida's works, a number of studies developed his approach and placed his inquiry in a wider geographical context. It became almost conventional to cite the creative class among major drivers of regional development and to consider it as the key element of regional competitiveness. The ability of regions to attract the creative class through openness and diversity is widely perceived as a condition, underpinning innovative development and knowledge-based economic growth (Florida 2002a, 2002b; Florida and Gates 2001). Florida's thesis found some support in empirical studies, which measured creativity and analyzed its effects on regional economic competitiveness (see Florida 2002a, 2002b; Gertler et al 2002). Although causal links of such effects largely remain unclear (Markusen 2006; Scott 2006), the notion of creativity has firmly become a part of the knowledge economy metatheory (Tremblay 2005).
Substantial undertakings to analyze the creative class in Canada were accomplished for the largest Canadian and Ontario cities, partially with Florida's own participation (FCM 2002; Gertler et al 2002). This research generally supported the applicability of Florida's approach to studying creative capital in different geographical settings.
However, the early creative class research has not avoided an apparent geographical bias, focusing exclusively on core metropolitan areas. Although preoccupation with large urban regions reflects the concentration of the creative class in metropolitan areas (Florida 2002b; Gertler et al 2002; Polese and Tremblay 2005), this tradition unjustly marginalizes peripheries as study sites. Meanwhile, as argued below, the importance of the creative class for economic development is not an exclusive prerogative of large conurbations, but is the property of all regions in the contemporary innovation-based economic era. Moreover, there is some evidence that creativity can be even more critical for reviving economies in middle-sized and small towns (and, perhaps, rural areas) than it is in the metropolis.
This, however, does not mean that Florida's thesis, and especially his policy recommendations, are directly applicable in non-metropolitan settings. This paper rather aims to suggest that the idea of the creative class as an economic factor in the periphery should not be dismissed, but ought to be carefully studied. The uniqueness of peripheral areas also implies that traditional arguments, raised in favor of Florida's thesis (Florida 2002b, 2005; Gertler et al 2002) or against it (Glaeser 2004; Peck 2005; Markusen 2006; Shearmur 2007), may have to be revised and reconsidered.
What follows has three major objectives. The first is to discuss the applicability and implications of the creative class approach to economic development in peripheral areas struggling for their economic survival. The second is to conduct an exploratory analysis of the creative class geography beyond metropolis, i.e. to measure the creative class in peripheral regions (using two scales of study: 288 Canadian Census divisions and 34 communities in the Canadian North). This task requires elaborating the creative class measures, both to account for a more complex definition of the creative class (advanced below) and to adopt indicators tailored to the Canadian context. This is the third objective. Overall, this paper presents some initial, but encouraging results in applying the creative class framework to the Canadian periphery.
Creative Class Beyond Metropolis: Why and How Does It Matter?
Peripheral and frontier regions are struggling to meet the challenge of new economic realities of the post-industrial era and to break with their resource-based development path (Bourne 2000; Leimgruber 2004). An increasing integration of peripheral economies into the global market and advancements in information transfer has not narrowed the gap between centre and periphery. Marginal regions have largely failed to take advantage of new opportunities of knowledge-driven development. It has been argued that 'learning' in the peripheral regions is extremely difficult, if not impossible, because they severely lack physical, financial, institutional and human capital to support the 'learning' process (Hanson 2000). Peripheral regions tend to develop a 'branch-plant' culture, dependent on entrepreneurship and innovativeness 'imported' from the metropolitan headquarters. Most importantly, peripheries lack creative human capital necessary to complete the regional breakthrough and break with path-dependency (Bassanini and Dosi 2001; Schienstock 2005). (1) Caught in the staples trap, economies and innovation systems in the resource periphery receive very narrow flows of knowledge through a few major institutional agents, such as the state and large corporations. At the same time, as Florida argues, "places with dense ties" and strong social bonding, as many peripheral communities are, provide poor ground for novel combinations of knowledge and resources, instead, promoting lock-in (Florida 2002b). In these conditions, 'learning' is rarely more than just a reproduction of existing knowledge developed elsewhere, whereas the bottom-up innovation potential is largely ignored. In sum, most peripheries are short of ingredients required to accomplish economic transformation.
Lock-in eventually triggers economic crisis. There are two development trajectories for the region at this point: regional reinvention (a new path creation) or winding down (Bathelt and Boggs 2005; Schienstock 2005). The concept of path creation postulates that regional self-reinvention requires scientific, institutional, economic and social shifts that allow for inventing or adopting new knowledge (Bassanini and Dosi 2001). However, the most important component is the agents of transformation. These agents can have various forms and be political institutions, firms or NGOs. However, in the end, the agents of change are always people, the individuals and their groups who 'write' the innovation history of the region (Bassanini and Dosi 2001). As it has been pointed out by Schienstock (2005: 5):
"[t]o explain the development of a new national techno-organizational trajectory [t]he path creation perspective.., sees [economic actors] as knowledgeable agents with a capacity to reflect and act in ways other than those prescribed by the existing social rules and taken-for-granted technological artefacts. Path creation is seen as a process of mindful deviation by people who have an understanding of the characteristics the new paradigm offers. Therefore the transformation process to a great extent depends on the engagement of certain people being particularly good in imaginative exploration and creation. Among them, social pioneers scientists, politicians and entrepreneurs prepared to initiate and conduct anticipatory institutional change have a crucial role to play".
The emphasis on the 'imaginative exploration' and 'creation' as the vehicles of path-creation is especially crucial. With necessary settings in place, the creative capacity of the human capital,...
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