by Michael F. Paré, . Richard Florida, one of the most important urban thinkers since Jane Jacobs, is following her lead and coming to Toronto. Florida, considered by some as the guru of urban economic development, was recently welcomed to the University of Toronto's business school. Florida will settle into his role as the director of the Rotman School of Management’s new $120-million Centre for Jurisdictional Advantage and Prosperity in mid September. A position he was quick to accept after working at George Mason University in Virginia for only three years.
He's started a $120-million project at the University to research how wealth is created in urban settings made possible by a $50-million donation from the provincial government.
His groundbreaking 2002 essay, "The Rise of the Creative Class: Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race" is followed this year by "There Goes the Neighborhood: How and Why Bohemians, Artists and Gays Affect Regional Housing Values", in which he writes:"As selective buyers with an eye for amenity, authenticity and aesthetics, locations where artists, bohemians and gays concentrate are likely to be highly sought after for their cultural amenities, desirable neighborhood character, and aesthetic quality of the housing stock."
In other words, Toronto has got good taste - and people know it. Florida considers Toronto as one of his favourite places and one of the more "creative" cities in the world.
He argues that if a city concentrates on embracing its bohemians through a dynamic and tolerant urban life, it will be economically successful. One of his eye-catching measures is the "gay index," where he says the more gay-friendly a city is, the more likely it is to be economically prosperous because of its open-mindedness.
Want to get a quick take on how your city or region is faring in the all-out competition for talent? Start by determining the percentage of gays that are in your population. The "gay index" is the leading predictor of a city's ability to attract and retain knowledge workers, claims Richard Florida, founder and director of the Software Industry Center at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University and professor of regional economic development.
It's not that gay employees themselves are critical for building a tech-savvy base of operations. It's that a gay population is a dependable indicator of the environmental factors -- tolerance, openness to diversity, and lots of urban-oriented amenities -- that are critical for attracting world-class workers.
The new institute will study how jurisdictions become magnets for companies and for people who provide the necessary talents needed for prosperity. One of the goals is to be able to inform public policy makers on the various things needed to create a truly prosperous jurisdiction.
"To have this kind of support, to have your financial support ... and to have a spectacular physical space to locate in, I couldn't be more grateful," Florida said.
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