Introduction to Section II

What does the urbane city add to the Tocquevillian civic group dynamic? Cities and neighborhoods provide distinct contexts where the meaning of civic engagement varies. Here, we engage theories that have linked bohemia and the so-called “creative class” with economic development and innovation. The elements of these ideas are ancient, in noting that cities are distinctive locales fostering freedom, tolerance, and new ideas. Trade and cosmopolitanism, travelers moving in and out with unusual products are classic. Marx and Weber pursued these themes, while Georg Simmel stressed that cities fostered more diverse types of groups, which permitted individuals to combine their memberships in more complex ways, generating more unusual forms of individuality. Joseph Schumpeter extended this idea by stressing how innovation drove economic growth. Jane Jacobs played up the bohemian lifestyle, the neighborhood social ties, as contextual frames fostering more individuality.