Richard Florida speaks to Columbia
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

An autographed copy of Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class.

The toughest ticket in town two weeks ago was a seat at the Richard Florida lecture in the main ballroom of the new Hilton. The food, by the way, was superb. It was catered by Ruth's Chris Steak House, also in the Hilton on Senate Street.

Florida was in Columbia at the invitation of EngenuitySC '07, the annual leadership conference. This year's event was titled "Building a Bridge to the Next Economy in South Carolina."

The crowd was welcomed by Congressman Jim Clyburn on recorded video and in- house by Neil McLean, executive director, EngenuitySC. The keynote speaker, Florida, was introduced by Dr. Harris Pastides, vice president of research and health sciences at USC. Pastides is also one of the university's lead movers getting Innovista up and running.

Florida's most

fTahme oRuisse w oof rtkh,e hCirse baotiovke

Class, takes aim at '50s books such as William H.

Whyte's Organization

Man The Manadn S liona nt hWei lsGorne'ys

Flannel Suit. The stereotypes depicted by Whyte and Wilson couldn't cut it today according to Florida,

and Florida's Creative

Class couldn't fit in the '50s. The Rise of the Creative

Class received Washington Monthly's

Political Book Award. The

Harvard Business Review

cited the book as a major breakthrough idea.

Florida earned his bachelor's degree from Rutgers College and his PhD from Columbia University. He is the director of The Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

As the EngenuitySC's McLean put it:

"The EngenuitySC annual meetings are designed to discuss the steps necessary to create the best environment possible for developing the region's knowledge economy. Dr. Richard Florida is here to guide us through an examination of the advancement of Columbia's knowledge- based economy and the importance of talent, technology, and tolerance as a differentiator in turning Columbia's creativity into economic value.

"EngenuitySC '07 is a chance to align this leading expert with what Columbia is currently on a mission to achieve: attracting and retaining the best and brightest talented professionals and companies to the Midlands."

Florida has devised ranking systems that rate cities by a diversity index, a Bohemian index, and even a gay index, and so on. He argues that attracting and retaining high- quality talent is far more valuable than the usual business of city business development such as signature buildings, convention centers, shopping malls, and sports stadiums.

Among what attracts the creative class and their desirable traits are high marks in destination- quality culture, what Florida calls the "SOBs," symphony, opera, ballet. More important, though, and more attractive are the street- level cultural offerings such as jazz clubs, chamber music, and expensive art galleries with their shows and openings. Academic lectures count, too, so the proximity with a major university is a plus.

On the other hand, the Wall St. Journal ran an editorial called "The Curse of the Creative Class" where there's a note of warning: "The basic economics behind his ideas don't work. Far from being economic powerhouses, several of the cities the professor identifies as creative- age winners have chronically underperformed the American economy.

"And, although Mr. Florida is fond of saying that today 'place matters' in attracting workers and business, some of his top creative cities don't even do a particularly good job at attracting or keeping residents. Before the rest of urban America embraces the professor's trendy nostrums, let's take a closer look at them in practice." Which, WSJ, is exactly what Columbia is doing.