“We have to move to an urbanism for all if we want to tap the full talent of all people,” says Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and professor of business and creativity, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
What does the gap between the creative class (~30%) and the service blue-collar class (60-70%) mean in terms of the employment and self employment opportunities available to young people in `winner’ cities, especially when you have also mentioned that smaller cities have a disproportionate share of the creative class -for example Delhi with 24% -while others have three percent?
It means our societies are divided, that the top 30% get the advantaged and the rest fall behind. It means we are writing off too large a share of our population. The more highly educated and the more advantaged -especially those who grow up in more advantaged families -are likely to end up with better jobs and are far more likely to start businesses. We have to move beyond the winner-takeall economy and what I call winner-take-all urbanism to a more inclusive urbanism for all if we want to tap the full talent of all our people, including young people.
How do you think the local economies of Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai will evolve now?
India too has winner and loser cities and regions. Some areas have high shares of people with college degrees and who are members of the knowledge, professional and creative class.Bangalore is one of the world’s leading high-tech hubs. Other areas are far behind with much smaller shares of both and little if any high-tech industry. Mumbai and Delhi are two of the largest cities in the world, and they will continue to grow rapidly. The challenge is the possibility of these cities and much of India will continue to experience urbanisation without growth -where people flow into cities, but instead of that urbanisation leading to economic growth, rising living standards and dards and the growth of a middle class as it has in the West, it will lead to ever larger global slums. This is a challenge for India and the rapidly urbanising parts of the world.
What do you mean by “creativity is an interesting strategy for India to harness to develop a more inclusive approach to prosperity“?
India to my mind is a creative economy. In contrast to China which is more of a manufacturing economy, India is powered by creativity. For example, Bollywood is the largest centre for film-making in the world.India is a creative leader in food, music and design. Indian talent has powered the world’s hightech industries. Creativity is in the nation’s DNA. The question is how to harness the creativity of everyone and every place, not just the advantaged few.