Philadelphia is promoting the creative economy as an economic development strategy. Read more. Cleveland can follow the same strategy. This approach goes beyond Richard Florida's rather simplistic prescriptions. Instead, it focuses on building clusters of creative businesses. This approach first emerged in Europe in the late 1990's, and it has now spread to Australia and New Zealand. A few years ago, the New England Council introduced the approach to the U.S. Learn more. Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island have all moved in this direction.