Cities With Mojo

Patricia Martin writes of "mojo cities" in her book, Renaissance Generation. In 2002, Richard Florida rated San Francisco, Austin, San Diego, Boston, and Seattle as the top five large U.S. creative cities while placing Providence near the bottom of the list just ahead of Greensboro and New Orleans.

Martin suggests, however, that many measures of creative capital miss something special - what she calls "mojo" in the context of an emerging Renaissance Generation (RenGen) "of enlightened individuals who are hungry for ideas and ways to express them." (p.1)

Martin says that the major U.S. creative capitals such as Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco are just too expensive and relatively inaccessible for recent graduates, young artists, and struggling entrepreneurs. "While there is always some sense of financial struggle for the freelance-based creatives, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 1 in 100 people make a living from an art form in expensive cities like New York. The cost of living has meant a near diaspora for the creative sector." (p.165) Her research also found that some of Richard Florida's favorite creative-class cities rank poorly in other economic measures such as how well they hatch high-growth companies.

So what are the best large U.S. cities for cultivating and housing Martin's Renaissance Generation? She says that Seattle, Philadelphia, Chicago, and, yes, Providence "all have a mojo that encourages broad mixing of culture and people in an authentic experience that rings true. They count among their citizenry master artists and master patrons, who take personal pride in making contributions that give off an energy of connectedness." (p.188) Those of us who are working on New England competitiveness issues welcome and understand the Providence phenomenon. Indeed, the insecure Providence of one decade ago that wore its inferiority complex on its sleeve is long gone, whether Bostonians understand this new reality or not.

More soon on Martin's larger thesis that we risk missing an extraordinary cultural renaissance occurring in our midst as we otherwise lament a world suffocating on O.J. Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Larry King, and anything on Fox News.