| Abstract: |
(This paper is in Turkish)According to Richard Florida, who has popularised
the concept of creativity in the economics literature, the main three factors
that determine regional economic growth are technology, talent, and tolerance
(also known as 3T). It is vital for the economic growth of a region that it
promotes tolerance via embracing new ideas and cultural diversity, giving
emphasis on creativity, and producing value out of differences. In addition,
being able to provide a high quality of life to a creative class that can be
employed in areas where they can realise their creative potential and talent
is crucial. Finally, the presence and density of creative capital is a
necessity; which can boost the growth and innovative capacity of the region,
create new areas of employment and stimulate production based on high
technology. Studies on creativity have increased in countries that seek to
receive a bigger share in the global markets and augment their competitiveness
and prosperity. These works focus on certain factors that bring about
creativity, and they seek to assess creative capacity at the national,
regional and municipal levels to suggest policies for their enhancement.
Although these studies still require further elaboration, their emphasis on
the concept of tolerance and its influence on human creativity enrich the
literature on competitiveness and growth. Tolerance or high quality of life do
not emerge spontaneously in a region, but can only flourish through the
democratic principles of transparency, accountability, participation,
representation, constitutionality, and the protection of liberties. Moreover,
the capability of a government to scientifically develop and sustain the
implementation of long-term policies to create economic value out of regional
potentials is of utmost significance. In conclusion, perhaps what is more
important than economic success or competitiveness is that the intrinsically
human faculty of creativity, which has played a key role in the continuation
of human existence, can be helped to flourish to carry on to the following
generations through better modes of governance and societies with higher level
of tolerance. This is why, as Jean Pierre Changeux puts it: “with the assets
of universal scientific knowledge, human beings should make a commitment to
use the creative faculties they possess in their brains to give meaning to
that which calls out for it the most: humanity itself. It is our responbility
to urgently invent an ethical model which breaks the violence, the
intolerance, the crimes of our cultural past, and ensures more efficiently
survival and well-being for all human lives” (Chanqeux, 2005). |