Cultivating the Creative Class:

But What About Nanaimo?

Gary Sands, AICP

Laura Reese

November, 2006

“Cities must attract the new ‘creative class’ with hip neighborhoods, an arts scene, and a gay-friendly atmosphere – or they will go the way of Detroit”

-- Richard Florida

But, what about…

Mid-Sized Canadian Cities

The Virtuous Path

Talent

Technology

Economic Health/Growth

Tolerance

Research Propositions

“Creative class” populations must be present Correlation must exist between Creative Class and diversity, tolerance and high technology indicatorsCorrelation must exist between Creative Class, diversity, high technology and economic health or growth.

Tolerance Measures

Visible Minorities/Immigrants

Non-Christian

Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Same Sex Couples

Talent Measures

Graduate Degrees

University Employees

Design Services

Independent Artists

Arts Companies

High Tech Measures

ManufacturingComputers, Pharmaceuticals, Aerospace, Medical Devices

ServicesEngineering, R&D Services, Computing, Scientific Consulting

Economic Health/Growth Measures

Population

Average Earnings

Median Family Income

Unemployment

Downtown Health

Factors

Gay/Creative

Diversity

High Tech Services

Computer/Aerospace Manufacturing

Life Sciences Manufacturing

Gay/Creative Factor

Same sex households .68

Design services .70

Computer services .64

Scientific services .60

Independent artists .84

Arts companies .62

Diversity Factor

Black .82

Hispanic .92

Arabic .87

Asian .86

Foreign born .96

Services Factor

EngineeringEngineering services .78

R&D services .78

Manufacturing Factors

Computer/AerospaceComputer Manufacturing .94

Aerospace .94

MedicalPharmaceuticals .80

Medical devices .80

Change in Health Over Time

Health rankings relatively stableHealthy communities stayed healthy

Distressed communities stayed distressed

Some notable exceptions

Change in Health Index Rank 1996-2001

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

Frede

ricto

n

Sudbu

ry

Red D

eer

St.-Je

an

Monc

ton

SS Mar

ie

Nanaim

o

Economic Health Index Change1996-2001

Community Change Community ChangeShawinigan 0.68 Trois Riviere -0.30

Barrie 0.60 Saskatoon -0.30Sudbury 0.49 Thunder Bay -0.35Red Deer 0.46 Abbotsford -0.35Oshawa 0.38 Sault Ste. Marie -0.51

Saint-Hyacinthe 0.38 Nanaimo -0.76

Increase Decrease

Conclusions

Gay/creative and Diversity indicators are separate concepts

“High Tech” includes several distinct concepts

Gay/creative and Diversity measures do not correlate with High Tech measures

Conclusions

Diversity and Gay/creative are related to Economic Health

High Tech does not relate to Economic Health

No link between Economic Growth and any instrumental variable

The Virtuous Path

Talent

Technology

Economic Health/Growth

Tolerance

The Virtuous Path

Gay/creative

Technology

Economic Health

Diversity

Economic Growth

Next Steps

Case Studies

Education indicators

2006 census data

Employment data

And, what about Nanaimo?

What about Nanaimo?: An Epilogue

One size does not fit allLocal economic development must allow for a variety of goals and strategies

Improving quality of life for residents is perhaps the most universal goal

But there are many paths to that end

Nanaimo and other mid-sized cities can be successful on their own terms