The geography of creativity in the Greater Tokyo Area: 2000-2010

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Makoto Ikegaya (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Keith Debbage

Abstract: Since Richard Florida’s theory of the creative class was first introduced, many related studies of creativity, have been undertaken regarding analyzing the key features and predictors of the knowledge economy. Though the notion of the creative class has been popular for nearly two decades, not many studies have analyzed creativity in Japan. The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the geographical patterns of the creative class in the Greater Tokyo Area (GTA) to better understand the key predictors that drive the spatial variation of the creative class. Based on data from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the spatial distribution of the creative class seemed highly uneven for the 138 cities and wards of the GTA with significant concentrations in Kawasaki, Tokyo and Yokohama. A stepwise regression analysis revealed that 68.9 percent of the spatial variation in the creative class by place of work could be best explained by the share of the labor pool in science research, professional and technical services, and also information and communication industries. On the other hand, 92.3 percent of distribution of creative class by place of residence could be explained by a more traditional human capital predictor, the percent of the population with a bachelor’s degree. Those parts of the GTA with disproportionate shares of technical skills and high shares of educated individuals seem to generate highly creative labor markets. Since a key component of the creative class differs markedly by place of work and place of residence, it seems geography is a major factor in explaining the distribution of creative class in the GTA.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2018
Keywords
Creative Class, Greater Tokyo Area, Knowledge economy
Subjects
Tokyo (Japan) $x Economic conditions
Human geography $x Economic aspects $z Japan $z Tokyo
Creative ability $x Economic aspects $z Japan $z Tokyo
Knowledge economy $z Japan $z Tokyo

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