Abstract

Much of the research currently being done on the creative class (Florida, 2002), the presence of that class in communities and the conditions needed to attract it, is focused on mega-cities and urban areas well connected to the global economy and with the social and policy context in those communities. One neglected part of the equation, however, is the environmental and aesthetic components—they are mentioned in Florida’s work but not analyzed at the scale typically considered difficult to judge. Evidence from Canadian case studies (Ling and Dale, 2011) suggest the quality of the landscape at a community scale may have a significant impact on the the attraction of the creative class to communities. This paper will explore this possible relationship by comparing communities considered ‘attractive’ and communities considered less so, and the presence of the creative class in these places.