Creative Cities
Munich, Stuttgart and Hamburg are the most attractive cities for the "creative class" according to a new study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Based on a US-model, the consultants developed key indicators for technology, talent and tolerance against which ten of the country's leading cities were measured.
The evaluation process was roughly based on the "Creative Class" concept developed by economist Richard Florida. Florida argues that metropolitan regions with high concentrations of high-tech workers, artists, musicians, gay men, and a group he describes as "high bohemians," correlate with a higher level of economic development.
Creating an environment in which these groups can prosper attracts business and capital, Florida reasons. Cities must thus focus on capturing the imagination of talented individuals rather than focus solely on building infrastructure or industrial locations. This approach will maximize a city's primary resources and ensure long-term prosperity. Many US cities followed his hands-on proposals in planning their urban renewal: from Providence, Rhode Island to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
His three 'T' evaluation mechanism built around technology, talent and tolerance was modified by Roland Berger analysts to fit the European landscape. Munich (12.52) and Stuttgart (11.00) emerged as overall leaders, claiming top spots in both the technology and tolerance categories, while Berlin (11.1), Hamburg (11.1) and Cologne (10.4) were the top three cities in the 'tolerance' category.
The evaluation process was roughly based on the "Creative Class" concept developed by economist Richard Florida. Florida argues that metropolitan regions with high concentrations of high-tech workers, artists, musicians, gay men, and a group he describes as "high bohemians," correlate with a higher level of economic development.
Creating an environment in which these groups can prosper attracts business and capital, Florida reasons. Cities must thus focus on capturing the imagination of talented individuals rather than focus solely on building infrastructure or industrial locations. This approach will maximize a city's primary resources and ensure long-term prosperity. Many US cities followed his hands-on proposals in planning their urban renewal: from Providence, Rhode Island to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
His three 'T' evaluation mechanism built around technology, talent and tolerance was modified by Roland Berger analysts to fit the European landscape. Munich (12.52) and Stuttgart (11.00) emerged as overall leaders, claiming top spots in both the technology and tolerance categories, while Berlin (11.1), Hamburg (11.1) and Cologne (10.4) were the top three cities in the 'tolerance' category.
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Munich's strength in creating high-tech hubs under its motto 'Laptops and Lederhosen' gave it the edge in the technology segment, while Berlin, with its large immigrant population, actors, musicians, artists and lively gay and lesbian scene outranked competitors in the tolerance category.
In developing the quantitative and qualitative index, the consultants took European specificities into consideration. To measure the cities' technological peformance, the quality of their research and development and overall innovativeness was examined, including the number of technology-heavy companies founded in the city, the number of registered patents and the people working in R&D-intensive jobs. For the 'talent' index, the quality of available human resources and education investment were studied, such as the number of university graduates and the ranking of local universities. The 'tolerance' quotient was based on a city's openess to accomodating minorities as well its attitude toward alternative forms of cultural life, as mirrored by the number of international schools, the ratio of gay-marriages and the size of the foreign student population.
Differences between Europe and the US
"In building our own matrix to examine the situation in Germany, we had to pay close attention to the differences between Europe and the United States," says Björn Bloching, Partner with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
"In the US, regions and cities have individual high-tech centers that are very focused on specific areas and thus global leaders in their field. In Europe, industrial centers show much greater breadth than their American counterparts, due to the lack of early support for clusters that is the rule across the Atlantic," Bloching adds.
In developing the quantitative and qualitative index, the consultants took European specificities into consideration. To measure the cities' technological peformance, the quality of their research and development and overall innovativeness was examined, including the number of technology-heavy companies founded in the city, the number of registered patents and the people working in R&D-intensive jobs. For the 'talent' index, the quality of available human resources and education investment were studied, such as the number of university graduates and the ranking of local universities. The 'tolerance' quotient was based on a city's openess to accomodating minorities as well its attitude toward alternative forms of cultural life, as mirrored by the number of international schools, the ratio of gay-marriages and the size of the foreign student population.
Differences between Europe and the US
"In building our own matrix to examine the situation in Germany, we had to pay close attention to the differences between Europe and the United States," says Björn Bloching, Partner with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
"In the US, regions and cities have individual high-tech centers that are very focused on specific areas and thus global leaders in their field. In Europe, industrial centers show much greater breadth than their American counterparts, due to the lack of early support for clusters that is the rule across the Atlantic," Bloching adds.
"High-tech regions in the States are much more independent of traditional industries than in Europe. Technical development in the US largely bolstered by young companies, backed by risk capital, whereas most of the innovation in Europe is developed in large, established companies. In creating our index we thus had to look beyond the creation of high-tech companies in a given urban context, but had to include the intensity of R&D investments of established companies and the number of patent registrations in our evaluation."
While the US boasts a smaller number of global leaders in education, including the Ivy League and specialized universities focusing on the sciences, such as MIT and CalTech, Europe's educational landscape is much monochrome: universities are closer and differences in the quality of education often harder to discern. Because of the various degree options available in the United States, not all those with a college education can be considered members of the 'creative class' in the Floridian sense, where that is largely the case in Europe, particularly in Germany.
According to Bloching, the most striking differences can be found in measuring the third 't': Tolerance. While inner-city life and ethnic neighborhoods are key elements of a European city, US cities have only now rediscovered their urban centers, working hard toward reversing the 'suburbia' trend. New York and San Francisco are the stand-alone champions of American urban life that excel at tolerance and diversity. The inclusion of a gay population in the urban fabric is an important part of the 'Creative Class' approach used to determine the ranking for German cities.
If you have questions or comments regarding this or any other story, please do not hesitate to contact us:
While the US boasts a smaller number of global leaders in education, including the Ivy League and specialized universities focusing on the sciences, such as MIT and CalTech, Europe's educational landscape is much monochrome: universities are closer and differences in the quality of education often harder to discern. Because of the various degree options available in the United States, not all those with a college education can be considered members of the 'creative class' in the Floridian sense, where that is largely the case in Europe, particularly in Germany.
According to Bloching, the most striking differences can be found in measuring the third 't': Tolerance. While inner-city life and ethnic neighborhoods are key elements of a European city, US cities have only now rediscovered their urban centers, working hard toward reversing the 'suburbia' trend. New York and San Francisco are the stand-alone champions of American urban life that excel at tolerance and diversity. The inclusion of a gay population in the urban fabric is an important part of the 'Creative Class' approach used to determine the ranking for German cities.
If you have questions or comments regarding this or any other story, please do not hesitate to contact us:
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