Des Moines Register
09-23-07
Doak: Iowa isn't enough. Sell the best region in the nation: the Midwest
Richard Doak
Let's just give up trying to promote Iowa.
Then let's abolish the state Department of Economic Development.
Finally, let's erase the state's borders. Let the state fade into a general region
known as the Midwest rather than remaining a rather small, arbitrarily created
governmental entity known as Iowa.
That's silly, of course. Iowa can't disappear from the map. But it might be useful
to conceptualize that happening.
Iowans need to start thinking more regionally - not just regionally within the state
but regionally across state lines. We should begin to see ourselves as a part of
something bigger - the Midwest.
That thought occurred last week while listening to a guest lecture delivered by
economic growth expert Richard Florida at Iowa State University.
Florida's book "The Rise of the Creative Class" and the subsequent "Flight of the
Creative Class" turned economic-development thinking upside down.
Florida recognized the emergence of a new driving force in economic growth,
"the creative class."
This new class is made up of people who make their livings by thinking, creating,
innovating and independent problem solving - people such as engineers,
scientists, designers, architects, educators, artists, musicians, writers and others.
Florida says the creative class has grown to about 35 percent of the work force,
from about 12 percent in 1980, and the proportion is projected to keep growing.
"This is the propelling sector in our economy," he said.
Florida's great discovery was that economic growth occurs in regions that are
most inviting to creative people. That's what revolutionized thinking about
economic development.
The old model of development was that you create jobs and the people will
follow.
The new model is that you attract creative people and the jobs will follow.
Economic growth takes place in those places where people want to live. And, as
Florida put it, "Creative people want more than money. They want fulfillment."
Iowa has not entirely embraced the new thinking. There's still a strong element of
bribe-the-companies-and-they-will-come in the state's development strategies.
Nevertheless, Iowa communities increasingly seem to realize that their best hope
for growth is to become the kinds of places that creative-class people would find
attractive.
Iowa surely has the basic ingredients to hold its share of the creative class.
Some improvements are needed, such as making the lakes and rivers sparkle,
enhancing outdoor recreation, upgrading the schools and universities.
Add those improvements to the great natural beauty, the welcoming
communities, the ease of living, the strong sense of place, and Iowa would be on
the right track.
The smart thing to do would be to take all the money wasted on business
incentives and plow it into education and quality-of-life improvements.
The hitch is that Iowa might be too small to pull it off alone.
Florida wasn't talking about Iowa when he mentioned it last week, but he pointed
out that growth does not occur inside arbitrary political boundaries. It occurs in
regions.
All of China is not booming. Only regions around Shanghai and Beijing are. All of
India is not growing. Only regions around cities such as Bangalore and New
Delhi are.
In fact, Florida says most growth is occurring in just 20 regions around the world.
The regional nature of growth suggests that Iowa will fare best as part of a larger
region, not as a small state trying to go it alone.
Besides, Iowa has never had much success trying to sell itself as an entity. The
state has tried for decades to improve its national image, only to get poll results
that show Iowa has no image. The state barely registers in the national
consciousness. Trying to pitch Iowa as a sanctuary for creative types might be a
tough sell.
Why even bother? Why not stop trying to sell Iowa and start selling the Midwest?
Imagine all the states of the Upper Midwest getting together. They could swear a
non-aggression pact on business incentives and merge their state universities
into one mega system, combining them to make a gigantic dynamo of economic
growth.
Then they could join in a massive campaign to market the Midwestern lifestyle to
the rest of the nation.
They could sell this as the best region in America, because it would be.
RICHARD DOAK is a retired Register editor and columnist and a lecturer in
journalism at Iowa State University.