Toronto Magazine - Premier 2008 - (Page 49) the economic capability and the social infrastructure to complete that model. It’s the city’s sense of fairness that mitigates the underlying tensions of the high-powered creative economy engine and ensures that it won’t exacerbate division further. For example, Torontonians gradually came to realize that the way gays were being treated wasn’t fair, that demonizing a segment of the population runs counter to Toronto’s notion of what it is. This has led to the city’s embrace of its gay community — a change of both official attitude and the attitude of citizens that has benefited the city in countless ways. The same sense of fairness is the reason that neighbourhoods — both well-to-do and workingclass — are so cherished in the city. The notion of a gated community is almost antithetical to Toronto’s municipal self-image, in part because the gated community is seen as being unfair. It’s seen, in Toronto terms, that everyone should have a neighbourhood that is safe and where everyone is welcome. What this amounts to, in economic terms, is a surprising sense of purpose. There are two things that are certain about the changes that lie ahead: they are going to be profound and there is no going back. Toronto’s innate sense of what is fair is what holds the city together in the face of confusion and uncertainty and challenge. And it is fairness that makes it more likely that the city will address these changes, so that all its citizens can actualize the potential they present. To put it simply, Toronto is not set in its ways enough to imagine that there is any good reason to struggle against what is the prevailing current. This is only an attitude, I realize, but it is an attitude that represents a very clear competitive edge. Whether Toronto has the wisdom to capitalize on these advantages is what those of us who watch it with interest from within are very eager to find out. It’s difficult to overstate how profound the economic, social and technological changes are that we are living through. Those regions that successfully manage the dislocations caused by and, hopefully, solved by the emergence of the global creative economy will thrive. It’s as simple as that. Toronto is set to become a model of sustainable creativity that the world will one day emulate. Thanks to its unique geographic location, incredibly skilled and diverse workforce, its love of neighbourhoods and true quality-of-place, its abiding sense of fairness and its globally-minded outlook, the further development of the economy turns on the development of the creative abilities, self-expression and talent of each and every single person. Richard Florida is the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and author of Rise of the Creative Class. toronto | 2008 49
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