The geography of the creative class

Seminar with Kristina Vaarst Andersen and Mark Lorenzen, IVS.

Creative Get Creativer? A Power Law Analysis of the Geography of the European Creative Class.

Abstract: Using novel statistical data, the paper analyzes the geographical distribution of Richard Florida’s creative class among 800 European cities. First, the paper demonstrates that the distribution of the European creative class approximates a power law, albeit with a higher exponent (i.e., a higher inequality) than the distribution of the overall population. This signifies that in general, size matters in the distribution of the creative class, i.e. that cities with a high proportion of creative class tend to get creativer through attraction of still more creative labour. Second, the paper analyzes the geographical distribution’s deviations from a perfect power law. For the smallest (and some extent also the largest) European cities, the proportion of creative class is lower than predicted by a power law, and for the middle-sized cities, the proportion is slightly higher. This leads us to conclude that the attractiveness to the creative class of a European city is a product of both its size and fitness. Such fitness may be predominantly negative for small cities, positive for middle-sized cities, and slightly negative for large cities. Through comparisons among 8 European countries and case studies of cities, the paper then proceeds to discussing the nature of this size-fitness product of cities with respect to attracting the creative class.

Tid: 13.04 13.00-14.00

Sted: CBS Kilen, Kilevej 14A (3rd floor), 2000 Frederiksberg

Lokale: IVS Seminar Room K.3.41