Do the Service Design Professionals Belong to the “Creative Class”?

Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) has become an often cited key opus that could be described as the bible of dynamic regional development. The book aims to underline the rise of the creative class in American metropolis. It looks at the structures of contemporary society from the viewpoints of regionality, regional development, information, and the socio-technical foundations of knowledge work.

According to professor Florida, the creative class is found at the centre, at the core of society. Its values and principles underline the links between artistic, cultural creativity and the structures of the information economy. The book aims to find out where new, thriving business takes place in contemporary society, and to understand where businesses based on the input of creative innovative professionals (knowledge workers) are moving to geographically.

According to Florida and his followers, creativity is a key driver of the information society. The roles of individuality, voluntary tribalism and creativity are of paramount importance in the society of to-day. These factors have become essential for economic success and regional competitiveness. The knowledge workers – researchers, (service) designers, programmers, artists and other innovators – demand more than healthcare programmes from their employers and more than a sports stadium and a symphony orchestra from their home town and home environment. The creative class values active and many-sided cultural services.

It might be good to note here that, according to sociologists Scott Lash and John Urry, the new wealth of contemporary society has primarily been created by the producers of expert services. Producing special services (financial and cultural services, IT and ICT, educational services, innovation services, service design services, etc.) requires a high level of education and top notch professionalism. Florida includes scientists, architects, designers, educators, artists, musicians and entertainers in a single “class.” Around this core of creativity, a wider group of knowledge workers is assembled; e.g. business, economics, law and health care professionals.

It is generally known that technology develops in a post-industrial, (post)modern society but, at the same time, social and economic structures also develop. According to Florida, the most essential change in our societies during the last 50 years has, indeed, not been the advancement of technology but the change in our social structures and cultural life. Globalization and the mobility of capital and work and a new set of values essentially shape current development and our future paths.

At the same time, information technology and computer networks have influenced the birth of a new set of rules that affect our lives. Digital technology, networks, ubiquitous computing (everyware) and other socio-technological trends have had a crucial influence in the way that the post-industrial society is built around information, symbols and knowledge capital.

Florida's view of contemporary society is based on a theory that argues that humane creativity has become one of the essential (if not altogether the most essential) drivers of economic growth in western societies. Florida argues that by understanding the rise and meaning of the new “class,” we can also understand the processes of societal change and can influence our future proactively.

This said, we have to understand that creativity is a many-sided issue and should not be limited to technological innovations, patents, new products and the like. The Floridan view of the ideals and mechanisms of the creative economy reach out all the way to the fundaments of our societal and cultural processes. Service design practices and processes can boost these developments in a remarkable way.



Further reading:

Florida, Richard (2002). The Rise of the Creative Class. And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.
Greenfield, Adam (2006). Everyware. The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Lash, Scott & Urry, John (1994). Economies of Signs & Space. London: Sage.