Many have heard of Richard Florida, who is the guru for region's attracting and retaining the Creative Class. Florida's two books - The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class - really make a lot of sense to Generation X and Y and are great tools for practitioners trying to implement Florida's research.
Fast Company magazine recently published an article "The View from Florida-Ville" criticized Florida and his work.
I felt it was necessary to support Florida and his team and therefore submitted this letter to the editor I hope is published in April's issue.
In response to “The View from Florida-Ville”, Mr. Florida understands Generation X and Y in ways Mr. Peck does not. He knows what motivates young adults and he uses sound research to back it up.
It is no secret that many medium size cities like Roanoke,VA are bleeding young adults to more urban areas, especially during the 1990s. Roanoke’s city manager had a vision to be proactive in addressing this important, but not urgent issue, by creating a staff person to implement many of Mr. Florida’s ideas.
As a result, Roanoke is beginning to see many signs of reaching the tipping point - increased participation by young adults in regional issues; programs and events which are receiving local, regional and national coverage; and an online buzz that is giving hope to many young professionals who are looking for ways to return home, stay in the region after college, or discover the next hip city.
Mr. Florida’s work has been very instrumental in Roanoke and other cities branding process in making second-tier cities a destination for young adults.
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