'Memphis Manifesto'--The Young Creatives Speak Neal Peirce The theory has sounded great ever since Richard Florida expounded it in his 2002 book, "The Rise of the Creative Class": Cities will prosper if they lay out a welcome mat for people who specialize in creative ideas that spur new and varied economic activity--scientists, artists, entertainers, engineers, high-end managers. But what's the welcome mat to look like? How does a town actually draw the mobile and talented 25-to-34-year-olds who can add spice and verve to its economic mix? And just what is in the heads of these "young creatives" anyway? This spring, Memphis set out to find out. With Florida's participation and sparked by Memphis' own Carol Coletta, host and producer of the public radio interview program "Smart City," 100-plus "young creatives" were invited to Memphis to debate the new phenomenon and draw up a "Memphis Manifesto" articulating its values. The participants were youthful entrepreneurs and economic development experts, Web designers and community activists, museum officials and restaurateurs, filmmakers and human resource directors, drawn from Miami Beach to Cincinnati, Baton Rouge to St. Louis, Toronto to Duluth to Portland and cities in between. A local business development group, Memphis Tomorrow, subsidized the event through corporate and foundation supporters, accepting Coletta's argument that Memphis could benefit immensely from showing off its own attractions and close association with the new "creatives" from across the country. A first surprise as the visitors gathered: they didn't match the image of self-absorbed "yuppies," types who view communities as disposable commodities to pick among just for their own gratification. Maybe that's because the young creatives who Florida and Coletta and their civic entrepreneur friends knew and invited weren't of that type. The group that came was hardly a scientific sample--although it is said that the "Gen X" now in its young adult years exhibits higher social concerns than people who matured in the '70s and '80s. What's clear is that the Memphis conferees weren't just feathering their own nest--calling in their manifesto for cities, for example, to favor a "creative ecosystem" featuring arts and culture, nightlife, the music scene, artists and designers, lively neighborhoods, vibrant downtowns, open and green space, density, and quality public spaces (http://www.creativeclass.org/acrobat/manifesto.pdf). To the sponsors' surprise, they also added spirituality as part of their creative ecosystem. And quickly they voted to "embrace diversity"--the idea that a mix of people of different ethnicities, races, backgrounds, creates an especially creative mix of ideas, expressions, talents that enrich communities. In the same vein, the Memphis Manifesto they wrote takes a big swipe at American "monoculture and homogeneity"--the sameness of big product names, the dull sameness of franchises as they stamp out local flavor. "Be authentic," reads the Manifesto. "Dare to be different, not simply the look-alike of another community." One has to think: if the young creatives could even start those revolutions in America, what a gift! All-male boards of directors would get broken up. And dull corporate sameness would be challenged, whether it's chain stores forcing out local retailers or anomalies like a Wal-Mart landing in New Orleans' Garden District. Finally, and maybe most critical, the manifesto asserts creatives must take personal responsibility to improve their communities. They need to commit themselves personally to battling mediocrity, intolerance, sprawl, poverty, bad schools, exclusivity and the like. It's a grand ambition, sure to fail in part. It doesn't erase the peril of a handful of "hip" places succeeding, while youth and talent (and wealth) is drained from others--a painful split already being documented by statistician Robert Cushing in an analysis reported by Bill Bishop of The Austin American-Statesman. Yet the vision of young creatives assuming responsibility is of immense relevance in American communities at this moment of our history. And at the Memphis sessions, a constant theme was that any community can put together a progressive, youth-oriented strategy for growth. Historically, Coletta notes, local governments have focused on the nuclear family--Mom, Dad, the two kids and homeowner concerns. Chambers of commerce have worried about the middle-aged men who decide on business locations. "But nobody," she notes, "has focused on this younger age cohort." Large proportions of young people move in their 20s, and many don't move again. "So this is a golden demographic, and can have a significant impact on whether your city is successful." Assuming all that's true, the original splash of interest in young creative people is maturing into new economic development strategies a world apart from stale old strategies like subsidies for footloose companies. Now, it may also mean a broadened civic role for young people with fresh and idealistic approaches. Let's hope so. Neal Peirce's e-mail address is nrp@citistates.com. More Neal Peirce columns