Addressing human capital flight and talent migrations, this paper assesses the applicability and effectiveness of Richard Florida’s creative class thesis in a new town context. Using the case study of Milton Keynes in the UK, the paper investigates Florida’s thesis by exploring its themes in interviews, questionnaire surveys and secondary data. Fifteen participants were interviewed, and 107 young residents of Milton Keynes responded to the survey.
The paper found that the themes of the creative class thesis, such as culture and city ‘personality’ explained the push and pull factors of talent migration in Milton Keynes. Housing affordability and employment were also found to be influential locational factors for talent, though scarcely mentioned in Florida’s thesis. The paper concludes that the creative class thesis is partially applicable in the new town context.