The flight of the creative class:

America's growth miracle turns on one key factor: its openness to new ideas, which has allowed it to dominate the global competition for talent, and in doing so harness the creative energies of its own people--and, indeed, the world.

A central element in contemporary regional development strategies is the ability for regions to attract and retain talented people. The underlying argument is that by attracting talented people, regions are better geared to meet the demand of competences of the knowledge economy and become more competitive. This article focuses on the migration of the creative class.

Most migration activities for the creative class take place just after finishing university and that the creative class people move for jobs rather than place.

Competitiveness of city regions has gained a more central position in regional development and planning during the last decades.One reason for this is that globalization has caused pressure on industrial structures forcing Western situated firms to increase their competitiveness by more actively promoting innovation and knowledge creation. Access to knowledge has therefore become vital for most types of productions in the Western economies.

Central in this position is that talented and creative people are perceived as highly mobile.In response to the high mobility of the creative class people, regions have to provide a good people climate to facilitate a good business climate. This is the result of several studies performed by Florida and his colleagues.An important explanation is found in the absence of an attractive ‘people climate’, which causes a flight of talented and creative people. Consequently, potential talent and a good business climate are not sufficient to bring growth to a region—attracting and not least retaining creative people are just as important aspects.