professions like a teacher at the primary school belongs to the creative class. This obviously explain why according to Florida, 35 percent of the American population is belongs to the creative class (Florida, 2002). Another critique on the creative capital theory is that Florida claims people of the creative class prefer living in densed urban areas with the proximity of many amenities. Glaeser, however, does not agree and claims that creative people also prefer living in “big suburban lots with easy commutes by automobile and safe streets and good schools and low taxes� (Glaeser, 2005). This indicates a Silicon Valley-like environment. DUTCH CREATIVE CLASS However, many of these human capital studies are based on the American context. More relevant for this project is whether the outcomes of those research are also applicable in Dutch context. In research to the Dutch creative class by Marlet and van Woerkens the employment growth is used as indication for the economic growth of a city instead of the population growth. This suggests that population growth and employment growth are highly correlated (Glaeser and Saiz, 2003). According to this research, the majority of the Dutch creative class is concentrated in the west part of the Netherlands (Marlet and van Woerkens, 2007). This can be explained by the preference of the creative class for a metropolitan atmosphere (Florida, 2002). In the Netherlands there is an equally growth of the creative class in the Randstad as in the rest of the country. Only in the south of the Netherlands the growth of the creative class is higher than in the rest of the country. According to the standard used by Marlet, more than 30% of the labor force belong to the creative class, which is a
figure 2.4 creative class stimulate the employment growth corrected by population growth source: Marlet - De aantrekkelijke stad
Creative core
IT specialists, mathematicians, engineers, architects, researchers, educators
Creative professionals
Leaders, lawyers, physicians, and employees in trade and finance
Bohemians
Artists, designers, journalists, and employees in the entertainment and media industries
Three groups in the creative class source: Florida, R. - The rise of the creative class 27