The City as Modern Muse

"I know a little bit -- enough to be dangerous -- about the music scene here. . . . The only really culturally innovative thing besides go-go was that whole new-wave punk movement that came out of DC in the '80s," Florida said, adding that it "had a lot to do with a lot of smart kids going to college here and cheap rents to create spaces like the 9:30 Club."

Another major factor in attracting creative-class types is "openness," he said. And so far, Washington has proved to be more open than Pittsburgh, especially relating to his contention that a large gay presence correlates positively with a city's economic performance.

The idea didn't fly too well in Steel City.

He also views racial and ethnic diversity as a source of strength, and said he felt that Washington's large black middle class had made the region more tolerant.

"I think most of my critics distort my ideas. 'Florida is for bohemians and gays and not for families.' Duh. I'm a member of a family," he said. "I wanted to say artists and culturally creative people have relevance. Not that they run the show. But if they're going to make all this effort to focus on technological incubation . . . these people have relevance, too."

"My work isn't about a place to get a latte and night life. What my work is about is harnessing the energy we see in the community."

When he isn't teaching at George Mason or traveling the world for speaking engagements, Florida, 48, can be found biking in Rock Creek Park or working in his Cleveland Park study, which looks like an art gallery. The walls, the couch, and his desk are white. Color is confined to a few places -- the jackets of his books, which line several shelves along one wall, a Warhol-style print of Beethoven over the mantle and an electric guitar in a stand on the floor.

When he and his wife go out, it is often to Gallery Place. During the August jaunt, he found the corner of Seventh and F streets NW in the middle of a weekday afternoon totally compelling.

What appealed to him was the variety of people that flowed past. "It would be interesting to sit here with a notebook and code who you think is here," he said, "You got new immigrants, IT guys, security guards."

Despite Gallery Place's prefab jumble of modern and historic-looking facades, he pronounced it free of "urban development crimes."

"They didn't violate this neighborhood by destroying its history," he said, though he looked askance at a CVS sign and a Fuddruckers.

Like other creative-class centers, Washington is already facing threats to the vital mix, he said: a dearth of affordable housing and rising income inequality. The very dynamics that are attracting creative-class workers to the area are also helping drive out the qualities they seek. And that, in turn, can lead to stifling homogeneity -- a creativity killer.