People or place? Towards a system of holistic locational values for creative workers

Previous studies of the locational patterns of European creative workers typically neglect their lower mobility, focusing on a simplistic “attraction and retention” logic. They largely fail to consider the heterogeneity of places and people, disregarding the basic human functions that connect people to their environment. Our objective is to propose a system of locational values that adds depth to the dynamics between creative people and places. The model developed encompasses 37 indicators, creating a large dataset (N = 4,823) via a postal questionnaire of creative workers in Slovenia. A set of statistical methods was conducted to analyse the differences in locational values, with the urban-rural dichotomy employed as the key test. The results show that the type of place, rather than demographic factors, determines distinct urban and rural sets of locational values. This illustrates the heterogeneity of interactions between creative workers and places that should be considered by future research and policymaking.