Richard Florida

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Renowned Economist | Bestselling Author

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading urbanists and a sought-after speaker. Named one of Esquire’s “Best and Brightest,” alongside luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, Florida has fascinated audiences all over the world with his insightful presentations on subjects ranging from the future of cities to understanding demographic shifts to deciphering global economic trends.

Florida is a writer and journalist, having penned several global bestsellers, including the award-winning The Rise of the Creative Class and The New Urban Crisis. His writing frequently appears in major publications, he’s a regular guest commenter on CNN and other international media outlets, and Time magazine recognized his Twitter feed as one of the “140 Most Influential in the World.”

An entrepreneur, Florida is the co-founder of CityLab, the world’s leading publication for cities and urbanism, and the founder of the Creative Class Group, which provides strategic advice to companies, foundations, and governments worldwide. He also serves on the boards of several real estate development firms, venture capital firms, and investment funds.

In addition, Florida is a researcher and professor at University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management. He has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon University and been a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT.

Topics
Keynotes

Why Creativity is the New Economy

Regions are becoming more specialized in economic activity, creating a global battle for talent.

Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, compelling personal stories, and a touch of humor, Dr. Richard Florida presents his insights into how creativity and the Creative Class are revolutionizing the global economy during a time of “Great Reset.” Looking toward the future, Florida identifies the patterns that will drive the next Great Reset and transform virtually every aspect of our lives, from how and where we live, to how we work, to how we invest in individuals and infrastructure, and how we shape our cities and regions.

Florida shows how these forces, when combined, will spur a fresh era of growth and prosperity, define a new geography of progress, and create surprising opportunities for all of us. He takes a deeper look at the forces reshaping our economy, giving us a provocative new way to think about why we live as we do—and where we might be headed. Florida uses lessons from the last ten years to show how Creative Class theory has grown from a prediction to a prescription for an economy in turmoil, outlining the need for a Creative Compact—a new social compact that can put us back on the path to economic growth.

The New Urban Crisis

In recent years, the young, educated, and affluent have surged back into cities, reversing decades of suburban flight and urban decline. And yet all is not well, Richard Florida argues in The New Urban Crisis. Florida, one of the first scholars to anticipate this back-to-the-city movement in his groundbreaking The Rise of the Creative Class, demonstrates how the same forces that power the growth of the world’s superstar cities also generate their vexing challenges: gentrification, unaffordability, segregation, and inequality. Meanwhile, many more cities still stagnate, and middle-class neighborhoods everywhere are disappearing. Our winner-take-all cities are just one manifestation of a profound crisis in today’s urbanized knowledge economy.

The Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited

Ten years ago, Richard Florida published a path-breaking book about the forces that were reshaping our economy, our geography, our work, and our whole way of life. He traced a theme through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity. In this newly revised and expanded edition, Florida has brought all of its statistics up to date (and provided a host of new ones); refined his occupational, demographic, psychological, and economic profile of the Creative Class; incorporated a decade’s worth of his own research; and addressed his major critics.

The Great Reset

This is an engaging and sweeping examination of previous economic epochs, or “resets.” He distills the deep forces that have altered physical and social landscapes and eventually reshaped economies and societies. Florida identifies the patterns that will drive the next Great Reset and transform virtually every aspect of our lives—from how and where we live, to how we work, and infrastructure, to how we shape our cities and regions. These forces, when combined, will spur a fresh era of growth and prosperity, define a new geography of progress, and create surprising opportunities for all of us.

…we have no doubt that your mesmerizing speech and impressive insights contributed tremendously to the success of the event and made an impact on the audience.

Oscar4b

It was fantastic to listen to Richard…the performance not only fulfilled our expectations but opened a new stage of inspirations for our Ministry to work on the development of regions.

Poland Ministry of Regional Development

Your substantive insights on ‘Creative Cities and Urban Development Reform’ contributed greatly to the deliberations at the Conference.

United Nations Development Program

Thank-you for coming all the way to speak at our London Conference yesterday. It was a spellbinding session and really rounded off the day provoking thought and exciting people about the possibility of change.

Communications Centre for London

Florida has been tremendously influential among local elected officials and economic development organizations, especially in the U.S. but also in other parts of the world.

Iowa City Press Citizen

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Richard Florida

Renowned Economist | Bestselling Author

Topics

Keynotes

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