The Creative City Initiative is a multi-year technical assistance and networking program that builds upon Partners’ work with amenity-based economics. Research by MIT’s Lester Thurow states that creativity is the fuel of the information age. It is time to look at the relationship of amenities, creativity, technology and e-commerce to the globally competitive region and its ability of attracting the best and the brightest.

Sixteen jurisdictions seeking to maximize their assets to ensure a competitive position in the "new economy" are participating in this program. The culmination of Creative City will be a policy report documenting the results of the program and providing a model for other communities.

The Creative City Initiative is examining amenity economics in five interrelated fields:

Creative and Effective Leadership
The many complex issues facing cities, the devolution of government and the growth of metropolitan regions have brought new players to the table. Government has agencies that support the arts and encourage business, while private companies compete with the postal service.

Economic Activity
Amenity resources are good business. More people attend cultural events than all sporting events combined.

Equity for All Citizens
Amenity resources have the ability to celebrate diversity, while uniting citizens.

Quality of Life
The workers required for a knowledge-based economy look to settle and remain in communities that will continue to stimulate their creative interests.

Paying for It
This approach recognizes the importance of amenities and how they can stimulate economic development, locally and regionally.