GEOG 346: DAY 6 Economic Transformation

Housekeeping Items  A reminder that that the outlines for the major assignments are due on February 4 th, preferably in hard copy form, but an electronic submission is OK.  Is everyone clear on the difference between the case studies and the mini-field trips?  I sent everyone a copy of the draft schedule for the latter, which we need to nail down today. I was mistaken: the buses are booked for Tuesdays, not Thursdays. When it proves mutually convenient, we can swap dates between groups, even it makes the trip topic out of sequence.

Housekeeping Items  Another relevant resource to what we have been discussing is the book and the film entitled Energy Autonomy about the efforts of German parliamentarian, Hermann Scheer, to support renewable energy efforts. I have mentioned him before and will pass the book around.  Today we’re going to focus on the economic transformation that cities have been undergoing and the implications for urban and regional management. Hermann Scheer

Economic Transformation  What are some of the major changes that we have seen in the Canadian economy over the last fifty years, and how have these manifested themselves regionally in Nanaimo?  The traditional way of breaking down an economy is to talk about four main sectors: primary (natural resource), secondary (manufacturing), tertiary (service), and quaternary (knowledge-intensive).  What have been some of the big changes with regard to these in B.C. in general, and in Nanaimo in particular?

Economic Transformation  Sociologist Richard Florida has had a major impact on the field of economic geography, and related disciplines, with his writing on the “creative class” consisting of “people who add value to the economy through their creativity” (see p. 68 of The Rise of the Creative Class). They include scientists and engineers, professors, writers and artists, entertainers, actors and filmmakers, software and game developers, architects, researchers, managers, lawyers, and doctors, etc.  This has major implications for traditional migration patterns and employer-employee relations. In the past, people often followed the jobs (can you think of examples where this is still true?). The quality of the urban or regional environment was often a secondary consideration.

Source: history.com/displayimage. php?imgId= &story Id=1-9-E

Economic Transformation  What Florida observed was that members of the creative class were very picky about where they wanted to live. They wanted to live in cities that were diverse, tolerant, that had a vibrant arts scene, and offered abundant cultural and recreational amenities such as restaurants, cafés, places to ski and hike, etc. He even found a correlation between the number of gays and lesbians and how attractive a given location would be because both groups valued tolerance and urbanity.  Implications for gentrification??  To some degree, these factors have also been part of the calculus of how post-secondary students have chosen where to go to school – something that VIU propaganda tries to trade on (“Love Where You Learn”), and that forms something of a challenge for places like UNBC (Prince George anyone?)

Economic Transformation  What are the implications of these changes for cities’ and regions’ economic development strategies?  Also, given what we discussed last class about peak oil, what are the implications in terms of economic re- localization?  One grassroots effort to re-localize economies is the transition towns movement, which has grown explosively. For more on it, see and  In addition to these grassroots efforts, what can be done by municipalities and regions? San Francisco has mandated that all public agencies have to buy local food.

Economic Transformation  A particular challenge involves rust belt cities in the U.S., Great Britain, and to a much lesser degree in Canada, cities that have suffered a major lost of jobs:

Fostering ‘Sense of Place’  “Placemaking is the process through which we collectively shape our public realm to maximize shared value. Rooted in community-based participation, Placemaking involves the planning, design, management and programming of public spaces. More than just creating better urban design of public spaces, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of activities and connections (cultural, economic, social, ecological) that define a place and support its ongoing evolution. Placemaking is how people are more collectively and intentionally shaping our world, and our future on this planet.” – Project for Public Spaces (

Nanaimo and ‘Sense of Place’  Where are the most and least successful places in Nanaimo?  On campus?  What makes them work or not work?  What is the relationship between sense of place, public space, pedestrian- friendliness, and sense of community?