Metropolis on the Margins: Talent Attraction and Retention to the St. John's City-Region
Lead Researcher and Department
Josh Lepawsky, Department of Geography, Memorial University; Chrystal Phan, Department of Geography, Memorial University and Rob Greenwood, Leslie Harris Centre, Memorial University
Funding Resources
SSHRC, Innovation Systems Research Network
Summary
This research examines the factors that influence the attraction and retention of creative and highly educated workers in a small-sized Canadian city. It examines two hypotheses: that the social dynamics of city-regions constitute the foundations of economic success in the global economy; and, that talented, highly educated individuals will be attracted to those city-regions that offer a richness of employment opportunity, a high quality of life, a critical mass of cultural activity and social diversity. The hypotheses are explored through in-depth interviews with creative and highly educated workers, employers and intermediary organizations.
It examines results from a study of the social foundations of talent attraction and retention to the city-region of St. John's, Newfoundland, defined as the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) of St. John's. The results suggest that a key factor playing a determining role in the attraction and retention of creative and highly educated workers to this city-region is its relative size and location with respect to provincial, national and international networks of places. St. John's exhibits what might be called 'metropolitan' or 'large' city characteristics because of its size and functional role relative to the provincial rural-urban system.
The evidence from the interviews suggests mixed support for the hypotheses. In view of these findings, we contend that the specificities of place must be theorized more carefully in the creative class literature and be considered more carefully by policy-makers designing policies directed towards attracting and retaining talented and highly educated workers.
Participants in our study did not emphasize the presence or absence of amenities as significant factors influencing the attraction and retention of highly educated and creative workers to St. John's. Rather than amenities being seen as a key driver of attraction and retention, it would seem that salaries and tax rates are perceived to be of much more importance. Qualities of place that do seem to matter, but in equally positive and negative ways, are the relative size and (dis)connection of St. John's within provincial, national and international networks of places.
St. John's is the metropole in the province, in large part due to geographical and historical processes of urban economic growth intensified by the transition to an economy heavily reliant on offshore oil and gas development. The location in St. John's of the main infrastructure of provincial government institutions (and regional federal government institutions), the industrial infrastructure of the offshore oil and gas sector and Atlantic Canada's largest university strongly skew the urban hierarchy of the province towards St. John's. The geographical situation of St. John's coupled with the emphasis on salaries, wages and taxes in our interview material suggests that the specific geographies of production activities and work relevant for St. John's are more important drivers of the location decisions of highly educated and creative individuals than are the presence or absence of amenities.
Published in: The Canadian Geographer / Le Geographe canadien, 54, no. 3 (2010), 325-346
Dates
2010
Keywords
Human capital, Creative class, City regions, Employment opportunity, Quality of life
Locations
St. John's
Avalon Peninsula
Zone 19 - Northeast Avalon
Industry Sectors
Social Science Research and Development (Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — Scientific Research and Development Services — Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities)
Thematic Categories
Community Development
Arts, Culture & Heritage
Human Resources (Business)
Industries
Labour Market (Labour and Employment)
Demographics (Population)
Quality of Life
Regional Development
Departments
Geography, Faculty of Arts (STJ)