Life and work place choices of the creative class in cities: the case of Istanbul

OpenAlex İngilizce

The Creative Class Theory is founded on the idea of human capital being the main factor of growth in the economy, rather than jobs,occupations or firms. The theory brings a new understanding to the changing city and its residents. This study determines the living andworking place factors of choice of the creative class and how the high skilled workforce is spread on the geographical place. The data isobtained from a survey conducted with leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists who live and work in İstanbul. The resultssuggest that new job opportunities that the big city offers are main factors for settlement and the creative class is widely spread within thecity. Findings on the factors of choice reveal that, soft factors such as, cultural diversity, social opportunities, availability of comfort zonesplay a role which support the Creative Class Theory. Findings also show that different factors are effective for various sub categories. Thefindings are expected to help in developing political and managerial implementations in city and workforce planning.Keywords : Creative class, high skilled workforce, leader, entrepreneur, city, Istanbul.JEL Classification : I31, J24, M12