(This article was originally published in Plan Canada, Summer 2011.)

Summary: Brantford, Ontario experienced an economic crisis which damaged its downtown. This article explains how downtown Brantford has reinvented itself as a creative economy as promoted in the report ‘Ontario in the Creative Age’ prepared for the Province of Ontario by Roger Martin and Richard Florida from the Martin Prosperity Institute. Brantford has implemented many of the actions suggested and the benefits are now becoming apparent.