Posted by Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Bill Bradley
When it comes to economic development, how creative or
innovative is Greater Sudbury? That was a question posed by
Sudbury-born geography PhD student Heather Hall in her
research.
"There is a common perception in Ontario that everything that
matters (creatively) is located along the 401, except for
Ottawa," wrote Hall and her colleague, Betsy Donald, in a
working paper for a Toronto think tank.
Hall studied how important creativity was in the economic
development of northern Ontario. She was in the city last week
visiting her parents.
"There is a perception then that northern Ontario is not as
creative as Toronto or southern Ontario," she said.
That is important because creativity drives economic
performance, according to Richard Florida, an American urban
studies theorist and author. Hall collaborated on a research
project for Florida and his colleague, Roger Martin, for the
Martin Prosperity Institute, an offshoot of the University of
Toronto. It was part of her PhD work at Queens University. Hers
was one of 21 working papers that supported a main report
entitled Ontario in the Creative Age.
Northern Life asked Hall about this city's creative edge.
Are innovative projects like the work done by Music and Film in
Motion in attracting filmmakers, the regional emphasis of the
Northern Ontario School of Medicine, the virtual reality
technology developed by Laurentian University's MIRARCO or
the business incubation successes of Cambrian College's
NORCAT, just isolated successes? What about the remake of Elgin
Street as the beginning of an artistic district downtown? Is
this a sign that the creative class is here, in many sectors,
from arts to technology, working to diversify the economy of
this city?
Hall's specialty is planning economic development in
declining and slow growth regions.
Hall said, though Florida seems to suggest it is in the larger
cities that creativity abounds, the problem may be that there
has not been enough research in smaller centres outside the
large cities.
"Whether it is a bias or just that they have not looked at
these other areas as intently, I can't say. My job was to
see what is going on."
This approach has not been tried in northern Ontario, though
similar work has been done in northern BC, said Hall.
"There are some amazing examples of creativity here." She noted
research centres located at Cambrian College and Laurentian
University, where partnerships with industry had benefited both
parties.
Hall admits there continue to be challenges. Some of it related
to bias.
"There is a problem with attracting investment capital (in
northern Ontario) when it is mostly based in the large cities.
They can be biased. They still think we are traditional
resource based communities and that nothing creative is here to
invest in," she said.
Government funded centres of excellence are all based in
southern Ontario. That has to change, she added.
Hall and Donald's report noted "that establishing centres
of excellence in all regions would encourage regional
innovation and promote geographic sensitivity."
But to Hall, and her husband, who is studying to be an
emergency physician, it is also the quality of life and the
buzz that a creative community has, that inspires them to
return to Greater Sudbury.
"Where else but here could young people in their late 20s or
early 30s be able to buy a house? Look at the lakes we have
here," she said.
"And from coming back here on a regular basis I can see the
change that is happening in the downtown. In fact, there is a
restaurant on Kathleen Street that my husband and I found to be
delightful. The artistic flair here in the downtown core is
spreading. That is a sign creativity is expanding."
