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Wednesday 12 September 2012

CAN THE 6% PLACE PROJECT THEORY WORK IN RURAL AREAS?

image from: http://www.citylabpgh.org/experiments/six-percent-place/
6% Theory tells us that when at least six percent of a neighbourhood's population works in creative fields, investors are attracted (2007 Creative Neighborhoods Study). Can the 6% Place Project theory work in rural areas, such as much of Nova Scotia, Canada?

I was inspired by "doTank" cityLab, whose mission is to use the city as a laboratory for experiments that might stimulate economic vibrancy, and their 2011 6% Place Project. Their project developed a practical toolbox of 16 incentives to reach the 6% creatives target. This project identified creatives and the "creatives environment" in the Garfield suburb of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA.

The six-percent goal is a starting place to look at economic growth/revival. In its simplest terms, the starting goal is to look at the "lay of the land" and count the number of creatives in the community, looking at factors, such as:
topography
road patterns and infrastructure
median income
educational achievement
family makeup
worker movement/chain migration patterns

The Toolbox that was developed by cityLab to attract 6% creatives to Garfield, Pennsylvania, USA, included projects such as:
Dream property database
Expand the Arts
Food Incubator
Street Market
Tiny Housing
and more ...

What can we learn from the cityLab 'doTanks' example, by mapping and identifying creatives in rural areas and conditions that attract/deter creatives so we can build our economies? Can the 6% theory apply to rural areas?

How does your region's rural communities stack up against the 6% theory?


San Francisco's Six-Percent Neighborhoods PDF 


LINK TO
6% Walkabout article.
LINK TO 6% Place Project PDF.

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