In one of the coolest parts of his new book, “Who’s Your City?”, creative-class guru Richard Florida argues that regions, like people, can have personalities. He identifies five standard personality types — openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion (sociability), agreeableness and neuroticism — and, based upon 600,000 survey responses from individuals around the country, plots the responses geographically.
Personalities and Prosperity
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Comments
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Jim,
I wonder what Woody Allen would say to this research.Peter Galuszka
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Peter, You anticipated Richard Florida… who observed in his book that Woody Allen might be considered the perfect New Yorker as both open to new experiences (thus artistic, creative) and neurotic!
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Did Florida perceive NoVa to be different from RoVa?
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Larry, The maps were not detailed, so it’s hard to tell. NoVa was on fringe territory but seemingly in the Virginia personality zones. But I wouldn’t consider those very small maps to be definitive. Unfortunately, Florida doesn’t provide any greater granularity.
But I would suspect, as I expect you do, that the differences would be substantial. Personality-wise, NoVa would be as close to New Jersey as to Richmond.
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Jim – what most Virginians are best at is doing something that relies on federal funding. I too am guilty as I am in the process of trying to finalize contract for a project with a federal agency.
The Governor understands this too, as Tim Kaine is working to keep certain Naval operations at Norfolk instead of being transferred to Florida.
But wouldn’t we be better off as a state if we could also produce something beyond goods and services sold to someone that are paid by taxpayers and subsidized real estate development? An honest understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses enables progress.
TMT
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Continued bad news …
Sports Illustrated just named the best high school sports programs in each of the United States and Washington, DC.
Virginia – Stone Bridge HS (Loudoun County).
Whatever happened to the days when Clyde “the Glide” Austin played for powerhouse Maggie Walker down in Richmond and NoVA was a perennial also – ran?
What ever happened to Clyde “the Glide” Austin?
And, for Peter and Jim, worse news…
Washington, DC – Gonzaga
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Groveton,
Gonzaga? And you mean GP just spent that $65 mil on a new sports complex for nothing?Peter Galuszka
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