We Have What It Takes

 
To capitalize on global migration, perhaps Vermont just needs to keep doing what we have been doing since the 1960’s: attracting interesting people who are looking for a place where they can be themselves, enjoy an active lifestyle in a dynamic community, and pursue a livelihood that is personally fulfilling. According to professor and author Richard Florida, the “creative class” comprises about 30% of the U.S workforce and offers great economic potential to places like Vermont. In his 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class, Mr. Florida explains his theory that a so-called “creative class” of “knowledge-based professionals” including “scientists, engineers, artists, designers, performers” and others, are highly mobile and make their careers where they want to live, rather than vice versa. They seek out locations that offer strong senses of place and community, an active lifestyle, and strong cultures of openness and tolerance, where they can pursue meaningful work. It’s hard to miss the similarity to Vermont. Mr. Florida believes that people increasingly identify more closely with the place they live than with any corporation or organization, choosing to remain in the same place and build economic opportunity rather than chase economic opportunity around the country or the world. As a result he theorizes that the “people climate” is more important than the “business climate” to attract and retain members of the creative class and develop a knowledge-based economic center. He specifically references Burlington, Vermont and similar college towns such as Madison, Wisconsin and Boulder, Colorado as examples of how colleges and universities, which abound in Vermont, can be the cornerstones of an attractive “people climate.”  His 2005 book, Cities and the Creative Class features Burlington and Austin, Texas as cities "using lifestyle as a lever for economic development." You can find more information about Mr. Florida and his creative class theories at www.creativeclass.com.

All of this suggests that Vermont has what it takes to develop a knowledge-based economy. We have been focused on the business climate and we haven’t noticed that all the while, the creative class has been moving in and making themselves at home. It seems to me that the creative class is already busy building a new economy in Vermont.