Richard Florida

Expert on Global Trends and Economics & Author

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends and cultural and technological innovation. Richard is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and also Global Research Professor at New York University, and the founder of the Creative Class Group, which works closely with governments and companies worldwide, Richard Florida is perhaps the world’s leading urbanist, “as close to a household name as it is possible for an urban theorist to be in America,” according to The Economist.

Richard Florida

Expert on Global Trends and Economics & Author

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends and cultural and technological innovation. Richard is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and also Global Research Professor at New York University, and the founder of the Creative Class Group, which works closely with governments and companies worldwide, Richard Florida is perhaps the world’s leading urbanist, “as close to a household name as it is possible for an urban theorist to be in America,” according to The Economist.

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Languages
English
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Biography

Esquire has included him on its annual list of “The Best and the Brightest,” and Fast Company dubbed him an “intellectual rock star.”  GDI also named him one of the world’s global thought leaders of 2013 and the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) named him 100 of the most followed scientists.  He is a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Creative Economy, World Economic Forum. He is also an appointed member of the United Nations Global Network for Digital Technologies and Sustainable Urbanization for UN Habitat and councils the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). He was recently ranked 14th in Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers.

He is a a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he co-founded and serves as editor-at-large for CityLab, the world’s leading media site devoted to cities and urban affairs. Florida appears regularly on CNN and other news broadcasts and is a regular contributor to the op ed pages of major newspapers and magazines. TIME magazine recognized his Twitter feed as one of the 140 most influential in the world. Florida previously taught at Carnegie Mellon and George Mason University, and has been a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Topics

  • The Flight of the Creative Class
  • The Rise of the Creative Class
  • Who’s Your City
  • Regional Development and Prosperity
  • Innovation, both in Industry and Elsewhere
  • Demographic Trends

Publications

  • The New Urban Crisis (2017)
  • The Creative Class Goes Global (2013)
  • The Great Reset (2010)
  • Who’s Your City (2008)
  • The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent (2005)
  • Cities and the Creative Class (2004)
  • The Rise of the Creative Class (2002)
  • Beyond Mass Production: The Japanese System and Its Transfer to the U.S. (with Martin Kenney) (1993)
  • The Breakthrough Illusion (1992)

Awards

  • Named World’s Most Influential Thought Leader by MIT Analysis, 2014
  • Thinkers50, 2014 (listing of the world’s most influential management thinkers)
  • Gene Burd Urban Journalism Award, 2013
  • Newark Arts Council Medal of the Arts, 2012
  • TIME Magazine 140 Best Twitter Feeds, 2011
  • Business Week, Voices of Innovation, 2010
  • European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation, 2009
  • Business Week, Voices of Innovation, 2006
  • Sid Parnes Pioneer Creativity Award, 2005
  • Esquire Magazine, Best and Brightest, 2005
  • Harvard Business Review, Breakthrough Idea of the Year, 2004

Testimonials

“…a truly impressive roll-call of experts and entertainers, authors and auteurs: John Irving on advice to aspiring novelists; Chris Anderson on the power of the consumer; Eliot Spitzer on redemption; Ariana Huffington on what keeps her up at night (“that we are the next Pompeii”), Richard Florida on urban theory.”

“Richard speaks about cities very brilliantly.”

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