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Opinion Editorials

The Globe and Mail: Bringing workers back downtown won’t make Toronto great again. But making it fun might

Downtown Toronto continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. But its office buildings are far from full, and alarming numbers of storefronts remain vacant. On Fridays in March of this year, office occupancy in downtown Toronto was just 40 per cent of what it was before the pandemic. How does it compare with other cities’ downtowns and what can be done to revitalize it?

admin
April 12, 2024
Creative ClassNews

Hype&Hyper: San Francisco’s become boring | Interview with Richard Florida

Dr. Richard Florida is a world-renowned American urban theorist and public intellectual who focuses on social and economic theory. He’s a professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a Distinguished Fellow of the NYU School of Professional Studies. Over the years, Florida has tried his hand at many roles, from teaching the next generation of academics to working as an editor and correspondent for none other than The Atlantic magazine, where he was appointed Senior Editor in 2011. He majored in political science and earned a degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University. Florida is best known for his concept of the creative class and its implications for urban regeneration, which he articulated in his bestselling books The Rise of the Creative Class (2002), Cities and the Creative Class (2003) and The Flight of the Creative Class (2006). Florida’s theory posits that metropolitan regions with high concentrations of tech workers, artists, musicians, LGBTQ people show higher levels of economic development. Florida refers to these groups collectively as the “creative class”.

admin
August 7, 2023
Covid Cities

What’s the Future of Cities in the Aftermath of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on cities around the world. Many suffered economically and socially, with downtown areas hit particularly hard. Despite that, urbanist Richard Florida says the crisis also created opportunities for municipalities to reimagine their central business districts as more than places for work.

admin
July 17, 2023
Profiles and InterviewsRichard Florida Columns

Reflecting on the future of the ”creative class” in regional development

In a recent OECD Dialogue on the future of regions: Getting creative about regional development, world-renowned expert on place-based development and author of The Rise of the Creative Class, Dr. Richard Florida shares his expertise on the relationship between a creative workforce and regional economic development. He encourages cities and regions to consider how diversity, creativity and innovation can contribute to attracting creative talent and investment, and shape inclusive and sustainable development. He then unpacks how non-metropolitan areas can benefit from a greater influx of creative people and capital, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

admin
August 23, 2022
Richard Florida Columns

Bloomberg CityLab: Why Downtown Won’t Die

America’s downtowns are in big trouble, or so the pundits tell us, thanks to the enduring effects of Covid-19 and the rise of remote and hybrid work. In 10 of the largest US cities, office occupancy averages are less than half, roughly 44% as of mid-August, of what they were back in 2020 before the pandemic hit. That’s better than they looked in May 2021, when the average stood at just 27%. But several big cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco, have been stalled at 40% or under for several months — a sign that the workplace disruptions of the Covid era are with us for the long haul.

admin
August 23, 2022
Opinion Editorials

WSJ: Goodbye to the Days of the ‘Rust Belt’

This past week Intel announced that it will build its new, $20 billion state-of-the-art chip plant near Columbus, Ohio. The company says that the location could eventually expand into a $100 billion complex with as many as eight fabrication facilities. As Intel CEO Jeff Gelsinger put it, “We helped to establish the Silicon Valley, now we’re going to do the Silicon Heartland.”

admin
February 1, 2022
Opinion Editorials

Miami Herald: Miami Beach has a ‘blotto-tourism’ problem. It’s time to regulate the party

Miami Beach has reached a critical inflection point. Spurred by geographic shifts occurring in the wake of the pandemic, the city and the broader region are increasingly becoming new hubs for the tech, finance, media and real estate industries, attracting companies and talent from coastal cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. But Miami Beach also faces some deep challenges, most visible in its so-called entertainment district, the area that runs along Ocean Drive, Collins and Washington Avenues, more or less from Fifth Street to 15th Street. It’s an area that has been rife with partying and, unfortunately, increasing violence.

admin
November 1, 2021
Richard Florida Columns

Bloomberg Citylab: As Tech Titans Go to Austin and Miami, Will Tech Workers Follow?

Elon Musk announced this month that he will move Tesla’s corporate headquarters to Austin, making good on his earlier threat to move his HQ out of California’s Silicon Valley. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer is hardly the first tech titan to trade the Bay Area for a red state. Peter Thiel and Keith Rabois are just two of the highest profile California venture capitalists who set up shop in Miami.

admin
October 19, 2021
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Independent: 15-minute cities’ are now all the rage, but are they ultimately limiting?

At long last, it appears that the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic may finally be behind us. Despite early predictions of a lasting urban exodus, people are heading back to great cities. But the pandemic has brought many potentially lasting urban changes, including the attribution of streets once used for cars and parking to bike lanes, parklets and restaurants.

admin
October 19, 2021
Files / Working Papers

The rise of urban tech: how innovations for cities come from cities

Cities have been intertwined with technological innovation since the dawn of human civilization. Ancient cities were the centres for advances such as cave paintings, rudimentary
written language, toolmaking, and the first urban walls which were erected in Mesopotamia c.3000 BCE. Today, cities and innovation are more inextricably connected than ever. A substantial literature already documents the role played by density, cities and urbanization in the process of innovation. But now increasingly cities are not only the platforms for innovation but also

admin
September 20, 2021
Rana Florida - In the News

onalytica Interview with Rana Florida

As Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Class Group, Rana Florida manages new business development, marketing, consulting, research and global operations serving such diverse clients as BMW, Converse, IBM, Cirque du Soleil, Audi, Zappos, and Starwood Hotels – to name just a few.

admin
September 1, 2021
Files / Working Papers

Discontent and its geographies

Everywhere you look around the globe, discontent in various shapes and forms is rising. Over the past decade or so, a wave of right-wing populism surged in advanced countries and the developing world as well. This can be seen not just in the election of Donald Trump in the USA, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, but also of course in the rise of Brexit in the UK, of Rob Ford in Toronto and the rise of Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in Hungary, Italy’s Northern League, the Golden Dawn in Greece, France’s National Rally, the Swiss People’s Party, the Freedom Party of Austria, the Swedish Democrats, the Danish People’s Party and more.

admin
August 17, 2021
Covid CitiesRecent News

USA Today: The unvaccinated don’t have the right to give us COVID. Crack down on them,not us.

People are free to make all the bad choices they want when it comes to themselves, but notwhen they put others in danger and incur costs that we all must pay. This is where we findourselves today with the COVID-19 vaccine. Until now, the default has been to err on the sideof liberty, allowing individuals a maximum of free choice and personal responsibility.

admin
August 2, 2021
Files / Working Papers

The geography of COVID‑19 in Sweden

his paper examines the geographic factors that are associated with the spread of COVID-19 during the first wave in Sweden. We focus particularly on the role of place-based factors versus factors associated with the spread or diffusion of COVID19 across places. Sweden is a useful case study to examine the interplay of these factors because it did not impose mandatory lockdowns and because there were essentially no regional differences in the pandemic policies or strategies during the first wave of COVID-19.

admin
July 28, 2021
International publications

Richard Florida: «Le città del futuro si ispirino a Parigi. E alla vostra Costiera amalfitana»

Aprite le finestre. In senso fisico e metaforico. Più aria per respirare meglio; e per rigenerare le idee che ci serviranno nel post pandemia». L’economista Richard Florida, professore alla School of Cities and Rotman School of Management dell’Università di Toronto, studia da vent’anni i motori propulsivi che portano alla continua trasformazione delle città. È diventato famoso, attirandosi anche molte critiche, per la sua analisi sull’importanza crescente, se non determinante, della classe creativa nei destini della socialità urbana.

admin
May 20, 2021
Covid Cities

City Journal: America’s Post-Pandemic Geography

Even as vaccination increases across the United States and an end to the tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic seems in sight, the economic, fiscal, political, and geographic fallout from the virus cannot be overstated: a massive public health crisis that left more than half a million Americans dead, an economic catastrophe that caused record unemployment and small-business closures, and a seismic political event that surely helped tip the presidential election.

admin
May 19, 2021
Covid Cities

NY Times: There’s an Exodus From the ‘Star Cities,’ and I Have Good News and Bad News

When it comes to the fate of big cities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are two sets of overlapping economic and political consequences, but they are not necessarily what you might expect.

Declining tax revenues, business closures, spiking rates of violent crime and an exodus to smaller communities have left major urban centers anxious about surviving the pandemic’s aftermath and returning to a new normal.

admin
May 19, 2021
Covid Cities

Bloomberg CityLab: The Death and Life of the Central Business District

Offices are not going back to the way they were pre-pandemic, and neither are the downtown neighborhoods that house them. Just last spring, a chorus of pundits loudly proclaimed a sweeping urban exodus and the impending death of cities. Now, just slightly more than a year later, our cities are springing back to life. Sidewalks are starting to bustle; restaurants, which have spilled onto the streets, are teeming with patrons; museums and galleries are reopening; and fans are heading back to baseball parks, basketball arenas and even outdoor concert venues.

admin
May 19, 2021
Covid Cities

The Globe and Mail: Remote work has boosted Canada’s hot housing market, but how long will the boom last?

The dunes and vineyards of Prince Edward County have attracted weekenders from Toronto for decades. Sharon Armitage has often been their real estate agent. She sold to the political pundit David Frum and the restaurateur Jamie Kennedy.But Ms. Armitage has never seen anything like the “avalanche” of city-dwellers that have turned up in the past 12 months. It’s not just aspiring wine moguls (“grapers”) or wealthy retirees any more. Young families who can work remotely during the pandemic have been pushing home prices skyward – by more than 30 per cent since last year.

admin
May 10, 2021
Covid Cities

The Architects Newspaper: Building Back? Richard Florida outlines his vision for a ‘post-pandemic city’

America’s central business districts suffered greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic through job
losses and business closings, but they also have a good chance to recover if stakeholders can
capitalize on trends that will shape the way people live and work in a post-pandemic economy.
That’s the view of author and urbanist Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto
and author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The New Urban Crisis.

admin
May 3, 2021
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Wall Street Journal: How Remote Work Is Reshaping America’s Urban Geography

A year ago, just before the start of pandemic lockdowns, some 10% or less of the U.S. labor force worked remotely full-time. Within a month, according to Gallup and other surveys, around half of American workers were at distant desktops. Today, most of them still are. And surveys of employers and employees alike suggest a fundamental shift. While forecasts differ, as much as a quarter of the 160-million-strong U.S. labor force is expected to stay fully remote in the long term, and many more are likely to work remotely a significant part of the time.

admin
April 16, 2021
Profiles and Interviews

Insider: Read urbanism expert Richard Florida’s response on how big cities will thrive during the new era of remote work

Remote work is probably the biggest single effect of the pandemic. It has been building for some time, but it has really been accelerated. According to the best statistics, we had about 5% of the workforce working full-time remotely before the pandemic and about 20% more likely to work full-time remotely after the pandemic, with about another 20% or 30% likely to work remotely some of the time.

admin
March 1, 2021
International publications

Pandemia é devastadora para a economia criativa, diz Richard Florida

Os bairros urbanos mais animados e produtivos são povoados e ativos 24 horas por dia. São lugares onde as pessoas vivem, trabalham, brincam, fazem compras e vão à escola. Ao pensar no futuro das cidades, é para essa direção que devemos olhar, sugere o teórico americano e professor da Universidade de Toronto, Richard Florida. Ele foi um dos pensadores que participaram do Festival POA2020 – Exponencialidade para Todos, que aconteceu até a última sexta-feira. Nesta entrevista, Florida comenta sobre as mudanças que a Covid-19 está causando e alerta que a pandemia está sendo devastadora para a economia criativa.

admin
December 13, 2020
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Bloomberg CityLab: How Suburbs Swung the 2020 Election

America’s political map is famously divided into shades of red and blue. But while most of America was anxiously watching screens and needles to see which hue the handful of crucial swing states would turn, the nation’s future was ultimately being decided at a far more granular scale—in the suburbs.

Geography’s defining role in how Americans vote has increased over the past decade or so, as people have sorted themselves by income, education and ideological outlook. More affluent and college-educated professionals and knowledge workers have clustered in larger cities, as many working-class people moved outward to the suburbs and rural America, widening the chasm between blue cities and red outlying areas.

admin
November 23, 2020
Covid CitiesOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Elle Decor: How the Pandemic Will Make Living in New York City More Affordable

In “60 Seconds With,” ELLE Decor articles editor Charles Curkin chats with creatives and industry leaders, getting the scoop on their life and work in one minute or less. In this installment, he talks with the urbanist Richard Florida about how city life—New York City life, in particular—will change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. His prognosis is decidedly good. Florida’s one minute starts…now.

admin
November 23, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

PEEG: Cities in a Post-COVID World

This paper examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic, fiscal, social and political fallout on cities and metropolitan regions. We assess the effect of the pandemic on urban economic geography at the intra- and inter-regional geographic scales in the context of four main forces: the social scarring instilled by the pandemic; the lockdown as a forced experiment; the need to secure the urban built environment against future risks; and changes in the urban form and system. At the macro-geographic scale, we argue the pandemic is unlikely to significantly alter the winner-take-all economic geography and spatial inequality of the global city system.

admin
September 23, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Harvard Business Review: The Uncertain Future of Corporate HQs

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen tens of millions of Americans engage in a gigantic experiment in working from home — one that looks to be more permanent than anyone might have imagined. Corporation after corporation has announced that they won’t be reopening their offices until mid-2021, at least. Some commentators are even predicting the death of the office and the end of cities.

admin
September 21, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

USA TODAY: COVID crisis – We need all hands on deck to save America’s arts and culture economy

The outdoor stages are silent. There are no art fairs or gallery walks, no concerts in the parks. The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated arts and culture in America, wiping out as many as half of all jobs for performing artists and musicians, and nearly a third of jobs for all those who work in the creative economy broadly spanning arts, music, theater, design, entertainment and media, according a study we did for the Brookings Institution.

admin
September 11, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Brookings: Lost art: Measuring COVID-19’s devastating impact on America’s creative economy

The COVID-19 crisis hits hard at arts, culture, and the creative economy. This study estimates the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the creative economy, which is comprised of industries such as film, advertising, and fashion as well as creative occupations such as musicians, artists, performers, and designers. We estimate losses in sales of goods and services, employment, and earnings for creative industries and creative occupations at the national, state, and metropolitan levels over the period of April 1 through July 31, 2020.

admin
August 27, 2020
Files / Working Papers

SAM: Technology and the Urban–Rural Divide in America

The dominant narrative in America today is that urban and rural face divergent futures. The belief that technology is driving urban prosperity and rural decline shapes this view.

This perceived divide is also reflected in popular assumptions about the COVID- 19 pandemic as web searches for homes in rural communities have spiked, ostensibly driven by individuals seeking to flee the dangers of density.

admin
August 4, 2020
International publications

YOMIURI SHIMBUN 2020/7/28 Morning edition

Richard Florida is a researcher and professor, serving as University Professor at University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management, and a Distinguished Fellow at NYU’s Schack School of Real Estate. He is a writer and journalist, having penned several global best sellers, including the award winning The Rise of the Creative Class and his most recent book, The New Urban Crisis. He is co-founder of CityLab, the leading publication devoted to cities and urbanism.

admin
July 28, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent NewsUncategorized

Innovating Canada: Resilient Cities with Richard Florida

Communities with more resilient economies experience less shock. And economies that are both resilient and high-growth experience shorter recovery periods. This pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to take measure of our regional and city economies and to better understand the fundamental drivers. A key to our future resiliency is the continued growth and development of diverse, export-driven economies across Canada. Surprisingly, some clusters across Canada have an opportunity for expansion during this time — transportation, e-commerce, and health sciences — while others will need support. Economic development officials across Canada must assess the sectors that are most vulnerable in the short to medium run, evaluate the impacts this will have for their labour markets and communities, and plan accordingly to make their economies more resilient and robust.

admin
July 13, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Wiley Online Library: Mega Regions and Pandemics

The ongoing COVID‐19 crisis has put the relationship between spatial structure and disease exposure into relief. Here, we propose that mega regions – clusters of metropolitan regions like the Acela Corridor in the United States are more exposed to diseases earlier in pandemics. We review standard accounts for the benefits and costs of locating in such regions before arguing that pandemic risk is higher there on average. We test this mega region exposure theory with a study of the US urban system. Our results indicate that American mega regions have born the early brunt of the disease, and that three mega regions are hotspots. From this standpoint, the extent more than the intensity of New York’s urbanization may be implicated in its COVID‐19 experience. We conclude that early pandemic risk is a hitherto unrecognised diseconomy operating in mega regions.

admin
July 2, 2020
Covid CitiesProfiles and InterviewsRecent News

Financial Times : Which towns and cities will be post-pandemic winners?

Richard Florida and his wife and children spent most of lockdown in their apartment on Miami Beach. When they returned home to Toronto, the city had changed. “When we left, you couldn’t get stuff readily delivered here,” he reports over Zoom. “I literally pressed the Instacart button five minutes before I connected to you . . . and [my order] will be here in half an hour.” Florida is the urban theorist who coined the term “the creative class” and spotted its takeover of the world’s city centres. He’d barely thought about pandemics before, despite being born during the great flu outbreak of 1957 —his parents never mentioned it.

admin
June 25, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Ciudades Sostenibles: Post-Covid Response and Recovery for Latin American and Caribbean Cities

The COVID-19 pandemic is a once-in-a-century public health crisis, an economic catastrophe, and a human tragedy of the first order, whose impact has been most keenly felt in cities. That’s because plagues and pandemics turn the dense living patterns, international connectivity, and sheer 24/7 busyness of cities—the basic drivers of their productivity—against them. That said, cities have survived pandemics throughout all of human history. The basic force of urbanization is stronger than that of disease.

admin
June 3, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

The Globe and Mail: Canada’s new normal begins in our cities

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything about how we live. We know this every time we put on a mask to go outside, monitor for six feet of physical distance between ourselves and others, eschew retail for online purchases, log in to work remotely, and have conversations with friends and family over online teleconferencing, instead of in person. We know this because we have seen the social divide widen, and there are increasing numbers of people who can’t make ends meet, have lost income or don’t have access to the internet.

admin
June 3, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Foreign Policy: Don’t Touch Your Face: Our Cities May Never Be the Same Again

The coronavirus has run rampant around the world’s cities, bringing them to a complete standstill. The joys of city life have been upturned as restaurants, theaters, and workplaces have all become potential vectors for transmission of the virus.

This week’s episode looks at how cities could be transformed by the pandemic. Will urban residents flee to the suburbs, or will cities persist as they have through past epidemics? Do the world’s metropolises have a rare opportunity to reinvent themselves for a more equitable, sustainable future?

admin
June 3, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Sam Suomi Magazine: Technology and the Urban–Rural Divide in America

The dominant narrative in America today is that urban and rural face divergent futures. The belief that technology is driving urban prosperity and rural decline shapes this view. This perceived divide is also reflected in popular assumptions about the COVID- 19 pandemic as web searches for homes in rural communities have spiked, ostensibly driven by individuals seeking to flee the dangers of density.

admin
May 27, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

World Economic Forum: COVID-19 will hit the developing world’s cities hardest. Here’s why

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought some of the world’s wealthiest global cities to their knees. In the current epicentre, New York, roughly one-fifth of all residents are infected and more than 20,000 have died. London has reported more than 55,000 cases and 6,000 fatalities. Yet the spread and impacts of the disease are an even greater threat to poorer cities and slums in developing countries.

admin
May 27, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

InsideHook: How Will COVID-19 Affect Colleges and Universities in Cities?

For students attending a college or university in a city, the combination of the two can offer numerous benefits. For some, that might involve close proximity to a thriving artistic scene; for others, being near potential work opportunities might be appealing. But with COVID-19 temporarily closing campuses and pushing coursework into the remote learning realm, that’s led to a substantial change in this balance. And given that no one really knows when things will be back to something approaching normal, it’s worth considering that the future might hold for institutions of higher learning within cities.

admin
May 15, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

gen medium: The Harsh Future of American Cities

History has unfolded in waves of profound depths followed by the relief of buoyant times, only for the depths to return with unsentimental speed. The French Revolution and the Reign of Terror gave way to Paris’ jolly Incroyables and Merveilleuses, young men and women who dressed ostentatiously and had a cathartic frolic — for about four years until Napoleon took power. After World War I and the pandemic Spanish Flu, the Roaring ’20s carried Berlin, London, and New York into a new age of hilarity. But then came the global Great Depression.

admin
May 14, 2020
Profiles and Interviews

Thomas Jefferson University: Question and Innovate with Richard Florida

Richard Florida, PhD, came to Philadelphia for an up-close and personal look at how our city’s revival is reaching a tipping point, a “new urban crisis” brought on by success. Florida, one of the world’s leading scholars and observers of cities, is university professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management, a distinguished fellow at NYU, and founder of CityLab. He is author of the best sellers The Rise of the Creative Class and The New Urban Crisis. MIT Technology Review named him one of the world’s most influential thinkers.

admin
May 14, 2020
Rana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: Life

Medium : Preparing our Schools for Reopening

As we begin to take our first tentative steps to re-open its economy, it is important that we begin now to plan for our kids’ eventual return to school — not just the K through 12 students, whose parents need to go back to work, but college students. Protecting the lives of each and every individual — students, faculty, support staff, and their loved ones at home — must remain our principle focus.

admin
May 12, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Fast Company: Urban tech is a $65 billion industry. Here’s how COVID-19 could upend it

The COVID-19 crisis has upended urban life as we know it. Cities are on lockdown, and the once bustling streets of Paris, New York, London, Rome, and more now sit virtually empty. Technology has been critical to the way cities and society have coped with the crisis. Online delivery companies have been essential for getting food and supplies to residents, while their restaurant delivery counterparts have helped keep restaurants up and running during the lockdown.

admin
April 22, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Citylab: The Coronavirus Class Divide in Cities

The coronavirus is exposing a longstanding class divide in the way Americans work — between the low-paid front-line workers and the stay-at-home professionals with more job security and benefits. The first group — the grocery clerks, delivery workers, transit workers, food service workers, emergency responders, physicians’ assistants, and nurses’ aides — are exposed to Covid-19 in their day-to-day jobs and often on long public transit commutes. The second group is dependent on of the very services provided by these workers.

admin
April 7, 2020
Covid Cities

Committee for Sydney: Richard Florida on how cities can bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic

As we grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and how this will impact the social, environmental and economic landscape of our cities, we’ve enlisted globally renowned urbanist and economist, Richard Florida, to help make sense of the uncertainty. Join us for a live discussion with Richard, who will share his ten-point preparedness plan for how cities can survive – and even thrive – following a pandemic. It’s an event not to be missed.

admin
April 6, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Citylab: The Geography of Coronavirus

The Covid-19 pandemic rages around the world, hitting cities in Asia, Europe and the U.S. in waves: first Wuhan, then Milan and Madrid, and now Seattle, New York City, Detroit and New Orleans. No place seems immune. But some cities seem more vulnerable to its devastating spread, and more vulnerable to the virus’s most insidious impacts.

admin
April 3, 2020
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Globe and Mail : COVID-19 has shut down our cities. Here’s how we bring them back to life

As the coronavirus surges across Canada, the immediate response has been social distancing to damp down its spread. But our cities can’t stay locked-down indefinitely. The economic costs, never mind the toll it takes on our society, culture, and mental health, are too devastating. Sooner or later, they will need to reopen.If we want to reopen safely and securely, we have to start preparing now. In addition to widespread testing, careful monitoring and more precisely targeted interventions, here is a short list of practical things we can start to do now to get our cities and economy back up and running safely and securely.

admin
April 3, 2020
Covid CitiesRana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: WorkRecent News

Miami Herald : Opinion: How retailers and other small businesses can survive coronavirus pandemic

This global pandemic is not to blame for a trend that was already in place — it has only accelerated it. While government stimulus and small business loans, financing and subsidies may provide some small businesses with a measure of relief, many won’t have the cash flow, the savings, or the time to wait. Rents, suppliers, and staffs have to be paid.So how can not just retailers, but restaurants, bars, galleries, book stores, hair and nail salons, florists, and fitness centers move quickly to mitigate their losses and stay afloat over the next difficult months?

admin
March 30, 2020
Covid CitiesRecent News

Citylab: We’ll Need To Reopen Our Cities. But Not Without Making Changes First

As the dreaded coronavirus bolts across the globe, city after city has locked down, transforming urban business centers and suburban malls alike into veritable ghost towns. Our cities can’t stay in lockdown indefinitely. The economic costs — never mind the toll on our society and our mental health — is just too devastating. But the reality is we can’t just hit a reset button and revert to how things were before. This pandemic, like all great pandemics, threatens to reappear in subsequent waves over the next year to eighteen months, until we find a vaccine or develop herd immunity.

admin
March 27, 2020
Files / Working Papers

International Encyclopedia of Human Geography – Economic Geography

There is no more important time to study economic geography. As a field, economic geography encompasses two things. It is both the way economic activity is organized across space, and an academic discipline that develops theory, ideas, and research to explain why economic activity is organized the way it is. For most of human history, economic activity sprung up around natural resourcesd farms around fertile soil, trading activities around natural ports, harbors or nodes between cities, and later factories and industrial activity around natural resources like water power, coal, petroleum, or iron ore. But economic activity today faces few such
constraints.

admin
December 17, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Occupational and Industrial Distribution in Peterborough

The idea behind this project to develop a matrix for Peterborough that shows which specific occupations are employed in which specific industries and then to compare the matrix for Peterborough with selected benchmark regions. If complete detailed employment data for all residents was available, such a matrix could be easily constructed. However, that is not that case. And while some sampled data is available, other more detailed information is limited to either industries or occupations.

admin
November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Creativity and Prosperity: The Global Creativity Index

The economic crisis has challenged popular conceptions of economic growth, both in terms of what it is and how to measure it. While engendering growth and bolstering competitiveness remain high on the agenda, immediate attention has shifted to creating jobs, lifting wages, addressing inequality, and fostering long-term, sustainable prosperity. This new edition of the Global Creativity Index (GCI), which we first introduced in 2004, provides a powerful lens through which to assess these issues.

admin
November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Rise of Women in the Creative Class

Women have become an increasingly important force in the U.S. labor market and especially in its knowledge based creative economy. Some argue that the economic crisis has tilted the playing field away from men, who have borne the brunt of blue collar job losses, and towards women, who are more concentrated in knowledge and service work.

admin
November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

So Much More: The Economic Impact of the Toronto Public Library on the City of Toronto

The results of Toronto Public Library’s economic impact study clearly demonstrate that Toronto Public Library delivers a strong Return on Investment, through the delivery of library services that enhance Toronto’s competitiveness and prosperity and contribute to a better quality of life for all. This study is the first Canadian public library study to measure in concrete economic terms the Return on Investment for library service.

admin
November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Mega-Regions of North America

Cities have always been the natural economic units of the world. But over the past several decades, clusters of cities and city regions have grown outward and into each other, forming mega-regions. More than just a collection of cities or one giant city, a mega-region is greater than the sum of its parts.

admin
November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Startup City: The Urban Shift in Venture Capital and High Technology

High tech startups are taking an urban turn. Manhattan and Brooklyn, downtown San Francisco, and Santa Monica are all becoming tech hubs. This is a new development. While large urban centers have historically been sources of venture capital, the high tech startups they funded were mainly, if not exclusively, located in suburban campuses in California’s Silicon Valley, Boston’s Route 128 corridor, the Research Triangle of North Carolina, and in the suburbs of Austin and Seattle. But high tech development, startup activity, and venture investment have recently begun to shift to urban centers and also to close-in, mixed-use, transit-oriented walkable suburbs. This report, which is based on unique data from the National Venture Capital Association, Thompson Reuters and Dow Jones, examines this emergent urban shift in high tech startup activity and venture capital investment.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Why Invest in Design? Insights from Industry Leaders

Design is playing an increasingly vital role in innovation, competitiveness and the determination of economic value. However, assessing the impact of design or isolating the design factor can be a challenge for a number of reasons. Design is an enabling discipline, and designers working with professionals from other disciplines add value to the process and to the end result. Design is also a crucial factor in many activities that successful organizations do well, from innovation and new product development, to operations and human resource management, to communications and branding. And like most serious organizational strategies, design is not a quick fix. It requires investment over time and commitment from organizational leaders in order to deliver significant returns.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Canada’s Divided Cities

Class is more than a socio-economic construct; its divides are inscribed on the geography of cities and metro areas.

Just as the rise of the knowledge economy has created a job market that is split between high wage knowledge jobs and lower wage service jobs, middle class neighborhoods have been hollowed out as the geography of cities and metropolitan areas has become increasingly divided between rich and poor neighborhoods. Recent research shows that Canada’s major metro areas, notably Toronto and Vancouver, have fallen victim to these urban class divides.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight Insight: Divided City

Class is an inescapable presence in America, one that influences almost every aspect of our lives—from our education and employment to our income, our politics, and even our health. Class increasingly divides America’s cities and metros as well.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Up in the Air: The Role of Airports for Regional Economic Development

Our research examines the role of airports in regional development. Specifically, we examine two things: (1) the factors associated with whether or not a metro will have an airport, and (2) the effect of airport activities on regional economic development. Based on multiple regression analysis for U.S. metros, our research generates four key findings. First, airports are more likely to be located in larger metros with higher shares of cultural workers and warmer winters. Second, airports add significantly to regional development measured as economic output per capita. Third, the effect of airports on regional development occurs through two channels—their capacity to move both people and cargo, with the former being somewhat more important. Fourth, the impact of airports on regional development varies with their size and scale.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Canada’s Segregated Cities

Cities and metro areas around the world are experiencing an uptick in economic inequality and Canada is not immune. Yet the country’s three largest metros remain substantially less divided than their U.S. counterparts.

Economic segregation—the separation of advantaged and disadvantage groups into separate enclaves—compounds this inequality, creating different levels of access to educational and economic resources for groups at the top, middle, and bottom of the economic ladder.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Segregated City

Rich or poor, the promise of social mobility always lay at the heart of the American Dream. But over the past two decades, many Americans have watched that dream slowly fade as the country becomes increasingly sorted by income, education, and class.

Segregated City, a new Martin Prosperity Institute study by Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander, tracks the extent of economic segregation (the degree to which neighborhoods are made up of people of the same economic level) across America’s metropolitan areas. While most previous studies of economic segregation have focused exclusively on income, this study develops detailed measures of income, educational, and occupational segregation, which are then combined in an index of Overall Economic Segregation.

Overall Economic Segregation

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Research

In the 1990s, in the early days of the internet, the common prediction was that cities would become obsolete. New technologies would unshackle us from traditional work locations, allowing us to ‘telecommute’ from wherever we pleased. Twenty years later, not only are our largest cities generating the most and best new jobs, they are concentrated in very specific neighbourhoods depending on the industry.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Tourism in Mexico: Many Faces

Tourism is a major human activity in the modern age with significant impacts in many countries. Almost 1 billion people travel each year to a foreign destination and experience life in another place. Those who see tourists have a variety of feelings regarding the merits and problems associated with having strangers in their midst. Tourism is an important feature of life in many places in Mexico and a critical element in the economy of the country…

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Constrained pathways to a creative urban economy

Creative occupations are now widely seen as a basis for urban economic prosperity. Yet the transitional pathways from a city’s current economy to a more creative economy are often difficult to discern or to navigate. Here we use a network perspective of occupational interdependencies to address questions of urban transitions to a creative economy. This perspective allows us to assess alternative pathways and to compare cities with regard to their progress along these pathways. We find that U.S. urban areas follow a general trajectory towards a creative economy that requires them to increasingly specialize, not only in creative occupations, but also in non-creative ones – presumably because certain non-creative occupations complement the tasks performed by related creative occupations. This secondary phenomenon creates a pull towards non-creative occupations that becomes ever stronger as a city moves more towards a creative economy. Thus, cities transitioning to more creative economies

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: The 2015 Global Creativity Index

Capitalism is in the midst of an epochal transformation from its previous industrial model to a new one based on creativity and knowledge. In place of the natural resources and large-scale industries that powered the growth of industrial capitalism, the growth of creative capitalism turns on knowledge, innovation, and talent. Growth and prosperity turn on a new model we term the 3Ts of economic development — talent, technology,and tolerance.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Political Uses of Race and Ethnicity: Ethno-Racial References in the 2014 Toronto and 2015 Chicago Municipal Elections

This paper examines references to race and ethnicity in 791 campaign flyers, brochures, door hangers, and direct mail pieces that 227 candidates for city council distributed during the 2014 Toronto and 2015 Chicago municipal elections. The findings pinpoint electoral campaigning as a major source of ethno-racial meaning. Candidates engaged race and ethnicity in five ways. They invoked ethno-racial stratification or cultural symbols and practices, cited endorsements from ethno-racial leaders and organizations, used heritage languages, and visually represented members of ethno- racial groups. The use of these references in Chicago and Toronto was consistent with the cities’ reputations, and the paper illuminates how these reputations are produced and reproduced. Black and Latino candidates in Chicago primarily mobilized perceptions of exclusion, discrimination, and conflict to promise political leadership in fighting these injustices. In Toronto, candidates of all backgrounds portrayed i

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Best Neighbourhoods: Methodology

In September, 2015 Toronto Life released their October issue including a ranking of Toronto’s best neighbourhoods. The Martin Prosperity Institute contributed to this article by collecting and compiling the data behind this ranking, as well as defining the methodology for scoring and ranking Toronto’s 140 neighbourhoods. Data was acquired from a number of sources including the City of Toronto, Statistics Canada, the Fraser Institute, the Toronto Police Service, and the Centre for Research on Inner City Health.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Canada’s Urban Competitiveness Agenda

Canada sits at an economic crossroads. Historically, the national economy was largely defined by its ability to extract and export natural resources. The country’s recent slide into recession, thanks to lagging world oil prices, is a stark reminder that busts accompany the booms associated with the nation’s dependence on natural endowments. Yet, for the past decade or so, Canada’s leadership has created a narrative that its resource-rich west is the primary source of long-run prosperity for the country.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Canada’s Urban Competitiveness Agenda: Completing the Transition from a Resource to a Knowledge Economy

Small in population but vast in physical endowments, Canada’s fortunes have long been tied to its natural resources.1 The country’s recent slide into recession, thanks to lagging world oil prices, is a stark reminder of the busts that come with the booms created by the nation’s dependence on its natural endowments.2 A well-known malady of resource-rich nations is the so-called “resource curse,” where the short-term wealth derived from resources inhibits the development of other, more long-running and sustainable sources of wealth-creation and economic development.3 And of course, resource-based economies are perpetually at the mercy of external economic-forces, exposing them to shocks that can quickly turn a boom into a bust. For the past decade or so, Canada’s leadership has created a narrative that its resource-rich west is the primary source of long-run prosperity for the country.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Startup City Canada

Entrepreneurial startup companies are the drivers of innovation in the new knowledge economy. Fueling their rise is investment from venture capital firms. Nearly two billion dollars in venture capital was invested in Canada in 2013. Across the world, Canada ranks fifth in global venture capital, behind the United States, China, India, and the United Kingdom, with less than five percent (4.7 percent) of total global venture capital activity.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Patchwork Metropolis

This research examines the new divides and changing structure of the modern city and metropolis. Ever since the classic Chicago School models of urban form, the metropolis has been conceived as divided by affluent suburbs surrounding a less advantaged core. More recently, the concept of a great inversion has been advanced to capture the return of more advantaged groups to the urban center and the outward shift of poverty and disadvantage to the suburbs. To gain insight into the actual changes in urban and metropolitan form, we map the locations of three major classes — the growing ranks of knowledge workers and professionals who make up the creative class, the declining blue collar working class and the rapidly rising low-wage class of service workers in routine jobs like food preparation, and clerical work — across a dozen of America’s largest metro areas and their core cities. We find a new pattern of class division and urban form that we refer to as the patchwork metropolis, where c

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Rise of the Global Startup City

Once the province of American tech hubs like California’s Silicon Valley, venture capital has gone global. Global venture capital investment amounted to $42 billion dollars in 2012, spread across more than 150 cities and metro regions around the world. The United States accounts for nearly 70 percent (68.6 percent) of total global venture capital, followed by Asia (14.4 percent), and Europe (13.5 percent).

But venture capital investment is concentrated and clustered in a relatively small number of cities and metros worldwide. The top 10 metros account for approximately 52 percent of global venture investment, the top 20 metros account for almost two-thirds, and the top 50 more than 90 percent.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Spiky Venture Capital

Venture capital investment helps to fuel innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth. But its geography remains extremely concentrated and spiky in just a few key regions across the United States.

A new Martin Prosperity Institute study on Spiky Venture Capital: The Geography of Venture Capital Investment by Metro and Zip Code by Richard Florida and Karen King uses detailed data from Thomson Reuters to identify and map the leading centers for venture capital activity across the United States.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Venture Capital’s Leading Industrial Clusters: The Geography of Venture Capital Investment by Industry

Venture capital financing fuels breakthrough innovations and entrepreneurial startup companies. From Intel and Apple to Google and Twitter, venture capital-backed companies give rise to the great gales of creative destruction that create entire new industries and redefine existing ones.

This report uses detailed data from Thomson Reuters to examine geographic clusters of venture capital investment and startup activity across five leading industries: software, biotechnology, media and entertainment, medical devices and equipment, and information technology services. It identifies the leading metros for venture capital investment as well as the leading neighborhoods or zip codes where such investment is clustered.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Venture Capital’s Leading Industrial Clusters

Venture capital financing fuels innovation and entrepreneurial startup companies, giving rise to the great gales of creative destruction that create new industries and redefine existing ones. Yet, across the top industries in the United States, venture capital investment is highly concentrated — the top five industries alone receive $25 billion, more than three-quarters of total venture investment. It is also concentrated in a relatively small number of geographic clusters.

These are some of the key findings of Venture Capital’s Leading Industrial Clusters, a new Martin Prosperity Institute study by Richard Florida and Karen M. King. The report uses detailed data from Thomson Reuters to identify the leading metros and neighborhoods or zip codes where venture capital investment and startup activity is clustered across five leading industries.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Venture Capital Goes Urban

Venture capital has long powered new and innovative startup companies. For most of its history, venture capital investment has flowed to startups in suburban office parks. However, our research finds that venture capital investment and startup activity is experiencing a considerable reorientation toward urban areas.

This is just one of the key findings of Venture Capital Goes Urban, a new Martin Prosperity Institute study by Richard Florida and Karen M. King. The report uses detailed data from Thomson Reuters to identify which venture capital investments flow to urban and suburban neighborhoods. We further explore the location of venture capital investment and startup activity by the way people commute to work — looking at the share of workers who walk, bike, or use transit compared to those who drive their own cars to work.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Venture Capital Goes Urban: Tracking Venture Capital Investment and Startup Activity across U.S. Zip Codes

Venture capital has long been the kind of finance that powers new and innovative startup companies. For most of its modern history, venture capital investment has flowed to startups located in suburban office parks. Using new and more detailed data at the zip code-level, our research finds a considerable shift in venture capital investment and startup activity toward urban areas.

Previous research on venture capital investment and startup activity has been hampered by a lack of data at the neighborhood level. Our research uses more granular data from Thomson Reuters to identify venture capital investments that flow to urban versus suburban neighborhoods based on zip codes. We further explore the location of venture capital investment and startup activity by the way people commute to work — looking at the share of workers who walk, bike, or use transit versus those who drive their own cars to work.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Rise of the Urban Startup Neighborhood: Mapping Micro-Clusters of Venture Capital-Based Startups

Venture capital is the fuel that powers high-tech innovation and entrepreneurial startup companies. Previous research has been hampered by a lack of data, or more specifically, by the availability of only highly aggregated data at the state or metro level. This study overcomes this hurdle by using more detailed zip code-level data to identify microclusters of venture capital investment and startup activity at the neighborhood level.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The City as Innovation Machine

This paper seeks to put cities and regions at the very center of the processes of innovation and entrepreneurship. To do so, we marry the insights of Jane Jacobs and more urban and regional thinking and research on the role of the city and the region to the literature on innovation and entrepreneurship going back to Joseph Schumpeter. Theory and research on innovation and entrepreneurship and their geography privileges the firm, industry clusters and/or the individual and poses the city as a container for them. Jacobs famously theorized that it is the city that is the key organizing unit for innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. Marrying Jacobs’ insights on cities to those of Schumpeter on innovation, we argue that innovation and entrepreneurship do not simply take in place in cities but in fact require them.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Geography of the Global Super-Rich

Recent years have seen increasing apprehension over rising inequality and the growth of the so-called “1 percent.” For all the concern expressed about the rise of the global super-rich, there is very little empirical research related to them, especially regarding their location across the cities and metro areas. Our research uses detailed data from Forbes on the more than 1,800 billionaires across the globe to examine the location of the super-rich across the world’s cities and metro areas.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: The Geography of the Super-Rich

There has been increasing concern over rising inequality and the growth of “the 1 percent” of super-rich people who sit atop the global economy.i Although the world’s 1,826 billionaires make up just 0.00003 percent of the global population, with a combined wealth of more than $7 trillion in 2015, they wield incredible purchasing power. Yet very little empirical research on them and the fortunes exists.

The Geography of the Global Super-Rich, a new Martin Prosperity Institute study by Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander, and Isabel Ritchie, seeks to change that. Using detailed data from Forbes on the world’s billionaires, the report examines to examine the geography of the super-rich across cities and metro areas.ii

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Rise of the Urban Startup Neighborhood: Micro-clusters of Venture Capital and Startup Activity at the Neighborhood Level

Previous research has identified the clustering of high-tech industries, entrepreneurial startups, and venture capital across metropolitan areas. Using new detailed zip code data on venture capital investment and startup activity, this research tests two hypotheses informed by urban theory regarding the geography startup activity and venture capital investment: (1) that venture capital investment and startup activity will be concentrated in much tighter neighborhood-level micro-clusters and (2) that venture capital investment and startup activity will gravitate to denser, mixed used, transit served locations. We find considerable evidence for both. Venture capital investment and startup activity is concentrated in a relatively small number of neighborhood-level micro-clusters in the United States, the majority of which are located in dense urban neighborhoods where significantly larger than average numbers of commuters walk, bike, or use transit to get to work. This is especially the c

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Pathways to Ontario’s Knowledge Economy: A system for identifying existing regional strengths and future prospects

Ontario, like many jurisdictions, is currently facing major economic upheaval due to rapid advances in technologies, increasing open borders, and shifting work practices. It is a time of significant anxiety but at the same time there is a sense of possibility. The way forward has been made abundantly clear, in order to succeed in the 21st century economy places must develop vibrant ‘knowledge economies’ underpinned by creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Turning the rhetoric into reality is the stumbling block for policy makers. Exactly how these things are achieved presents a series of difficult choices, which if not taken wisely, can prove to be costly mistakes. In the context of finite public resources the pressures to make efficient decisions with taxpayer dollars is ever increasing. When it comes to economic development strategy the term ‘picking winners’, meaning choosing to support and invest in certain industries and firms over others, is often derided. Yet, government

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Geography of the Global Super Rich

Over the past decade or so, there has been increasing concern over rising inequality and the growth of the 1 percent of super-rich people who sit atop the global economy. While studies have charted the super-rich by industry and nation, there is very little research on their location by city or metro area. Our research uses detailed data from Forbes (2015) on the world’s billionaires to test a series of hypotheses about the location of the super-rich across the world’s cities and metro areas. We find that the super-rich are concentrated in a small number of metros around the world and that their location is primarily related to the size of metros: Large metros offer more people bigger markets, more diversified industries and more opportunity that help produce and attract billionaires. The location of the super-rich is more modestly associated with living standards (measured as economic output per capita) and less so with the presence of finance and tech industries, and city competitive

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Art Institutions: Initiators and Reflectors of Neighbourhood Change

Arts institutions, such as prominent, established museums and galleries, complement the inherent heterogeneity and the definitive dynamic mix of urbanity.1 As civic anchors, they are institutional entities that occupy sizeable amounts of land,2 real estate and social capital.3 Anchor institutions have an interdependent relationship with the communities they’re located in, interacting in various capacities such as service providers, workforce developers and community infrastructure builders. Anchor institutions drive shared value for both the institution and the neighbourhood.4 As destination landmarks that denote world-class status, these institutions are magnets for high profile investment, creating pockets of increased real estate values across the city.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight Insight: The Rise of the Urban Creative Class in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is currently at the center of a significant economic transformation. The region, which spans Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, is undergoing rapid growth and urbanization. By 2030, the region’s urban population will swell by an estimated 100 million people, growing from 280 million today to 373 million people.

The Rise of the Urban Creative Class in Southeast Asia, a new Martin Prosperity report by Richard Florida and Melanie Fasche, examines the intersection of urbanization and the rise of the new middle class, or urban creative class, in Southeast Asia.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The Rise of the Urban Creative Class in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is at the center of a significant economic transformation. The region, which spans Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, is undergoing rapid growth and urbanization. By 2030, Southeast Asia’s urban population will swell by an estimated 100 million people, growing from 280 million people today to 373 million people.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Canada’s 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. The very the same forces that power the growth of our great cities have generated a New Urban Crisis of gentrification, rising inequality, and increasingly unaffordable urban housing.

The New Urban Crisis is different from the older urban crisis of the 1960s and 1970s. That previous crisis was defined by the economic abandonment of cities and their loss of economic function. This New Urban Crisis is more all encompassing than its predecessor, hitting at both growing and declining cities as well as urban and suburban centres.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Innovation, Skill, and Economic Segregation

Our research examines the role of innovation and skill on the level economic segregation across U.S. metro areas. On the one hand, economic and urban theory suggest that more innovative and skilled metros are likely to have higher levels of economic segregation. But on the other hand, theory also suggests that more segregated metros are likely to become less innovative over time. We examine the connection between innovation and economic segregation this via OLS regressions informed by a Principal Component Analysis to distill key variables related to innovation, knowledge and skills, while controlling for other key variables notably population size. Our findings are mixed. While we find evidence of an association between the level of innovation and skill and the level of economic segregation in 2010, we find little evidence of an association between the level of innovation and skill across metros and the growth of economic segregation between 2000 and 2010.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Job Growth in Canadian and U.S. Metros

This report examines job growth across Canada and the United States. It uses data from Emsi data for the period 2001–2016 for the 222 metros that had more than 100,000 jobs in 2016. This includes 203 U.S., 91 percent of the total, and 19 Canadian metros, 9 percent of them. We also look at job change for the more recent 2012–2016 post-economic crisis and recovery period. (Emsi compiles its labor market analytics from U.S. and Canadian government sources).

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Insight: Building 65 Million Jobs

Capitalism is in the throes of a massive transformation from an industrial-based system to a knowledge-based economic model. As this shift occurs, the class structure of modern society is also changing. Today, society is made up of three main classes or types of workers: the declining blue-collar Working Class, the rising Creative Class of knowledge workers, professionals, and artists, and the even larger Service Class, which is the focus of the Martin Prosperity Institute’s report: Building 65 Millions Jobs: The Geography of Low-Paid Service Class Jobs and How to Begin to Upgrade Them.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Building 65 Million Jobs: The Geography of Low-Paid Service Class Jobs and How to Begin to Upgrade Them

This report takes a deep dive into America’s Service Class. The Service Class includes 65 million workers who toil in precarious, low-skill, low-pay jobs in fields like Food Preparation and Service, Retail Trade, Personal Care, and Clerical and Administrative positions.

Our research outlines the dramatic growth of the Service Class, documents the low wages paid to Service Class workers, and charts the large share of women and minorities that make up Service Class workers.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Trump, Technology, and Talent: Will America’s Anti-Immigration Posture Hurt U.S. Tech Hubs and Help Canada’s

America has long had a lock on leading-edge technologies, dating back to semiconductors, personal computers, biotechnology, mobile devices, and social media. A big part of this stems from the fact that America has been able to attract the global talent that was critical to those industries, from Scottish born Andrew Carnegie in steel to the Hungarian born Andrew Grove in semiconductors and many in between and after.

But now, for the first time, that edge may be waning. Donald Trump’s unexpected and unsettling rise to the Presidency of the United States has fueled speculation that America may squander its long-held advantage in attracting the world’s top tech talent.1 Trump’s troubling moves to restrict immigration, the early travel ban targeted at Muslim countries, and his administration’s proposals to limit the entry of high-tech talent send a clear signal that America is no longer open to foreign talent.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

High Tech Companies, Inequality, and Inclusive Prosperity

Dynamic entrepreneurial companies have long been the drivers of America’s economic growth, from the first industrial revolution in New England to Andrew Carnegie and the rise of Pittsburgh’s steel industry, from Henry Ford and the automotive industry in Detroit to the startup revolution in Silicon Valley. But, in recent years, high-tech firms and the talented people who work for them have come under fire for driving up housing prices and contributing to growing inequality—especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, where mounting protests have targeted both techies and tech companies.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Winner-Take-All Cities

This chapter examines the phenomenon of “winner-take-all urbanism” and “winner-take-all cities.” Large segments of the modern economy have been shown to conform to a “winner-take-all” pattern as superstar talent draws a disproportionate share of economic rewards (Rosen 1981; Adler 1985; Frank and Cook, 1996). But cities also conform to a winner-take-all pattern in which a small group of global “superstar cities” (Gyourko et al., 2013) account for a disproportionate share of talent, economic activity, innovation, and wealth (Florida, 2017). We track the distribution of several key factors to identify and describe this pattern of winner-take-all urbanism in global cities, comparing the distribution of economic activity or output, innovation (measured as venture capital-backed startups), and wealth (measured as the share of wealth held by billionaires) and compare them to the distribution of population. In particular, we look at the disproportionate share of economic activity, innovation,

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The City and Innovation

Theory and research on innovation and entrepreneurship focus on the firm as a unit of analysis. We argue that the city, or place and space, has emerged as a key organizing unit for both innovation and entrepreneurship. The city organizes the key inputs for the processes of innovation and entrepreneurship, by concentrating human capital, firms, knowledge, knowledge-based institutions and other key inputs. We advance this framework by exploring the geographic clustering of a key indicator of commercially-relevant innovation and entrepreneurship – venture capital investment in high-tech companies. We chart the geography of innovation both across and within cities, at both the metro level and the district or neighborhood level for all venture-capital backed startups and for startups in digital industries. Our findings indicate that such commercially relevant innovation is concentrated at two key geographic scales. At the macro-level, it is highly clustered and concentrated in a relatively

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

The University’s Janus Face: The Innovation-Inequality Nexus

The university is a key source of talent and a key driver of innovation and economic growth in a knowledge based economy. But, in performing these very economic functions it also contributes to economic and spatial inequality. Our research uses a variety of new data to examine this Janus-face of the university in innovation and inequality across US metro areas. We find evidence that the university plays a role in both regional innovation, boosting local patenting and startup companies, and in economic inequality, with higher rates of income and occupational segregation in metros with highly rated universities.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Canada’s Advanced Industries: A Path to Prosperity

Canada is having a moment.

In a world where talent is mobile and technology central, Canada stands out more than ever with its vibrant democracy, growing tech clusters, and unparalleled openness to the world’s migrants.

Yet there is a problem: Despite the nation’s many strengths, Canada’s economy faces serious structural challenges, including from an aging population and slowing output growth. Even more important, the nation needs to ask urgently whether it possesses the right mix of industries performing at a high enough level to allow for new levels of prosperity.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

Startup North: Canada’s Startup Ecosystems Are Growing, But Still Lag the Global Leaders

The Cities Project at the Martin Prosperity Institute focuses on the role of cities as the key economic and social organizing unit of global capitalism. It explores both the opportunities and challenges facing cities as they take on this heightened new role.The Martin Prosperity Institute, housed at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, explores the requisite underpinnings of a democratic capitalist economy that generate prosperity that is both robustly growing and broadly experienced.

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November 20, 2019
Martin Prosperity Institute

America’s Urban-Rural Divide: Myths and Realities

The notion of a deep and enduring divide between thriving, affluent, progressive urban areas and declining, impoverished, conservative rural areas has become a central trope—if not the central trope—in American culture today. In May 2017, theWall Street Journal proclaimed, “Rural America Is the New Inner City”.1 Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, the narrative of urban revitalization and rural decline has only gained steam.But, in reality, this narrative fails to capture the full complexity of economic life in America. In fact, parts of rural America are thriving, even as other parts decline; just as parts of urban America continue to lose population and face economic decline as other parts comeback.

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November 20, 2019
Files / Working Papers

Geography as strategy: the changing geography of corporate headquarters in post-industrial capitalism

This paper develops a theory of large corporate headquarters’ location in post-industrial capitalism. It posits that human capital has become the primary factor in the location decisions of large corporate headquarters. It argues that such operations will locate in skilled cities that are also larger and globally connected. These hypotheses are tested using data from the Fortune 500 between 1955 and 2017. Count models are estimated to test the relative importance of human capital, population size and airport connectivity, alongside taxation and other factors identified in the relevant literature. The findings are consistent with the hypotheses.

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November 18, 2019
Profiles and Interviews

Media Planet: Q&A with Richard Florida

Richard Florida is an author, urbanist, and the current Director of Cities at the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute. We spoke with him about how Canadian cities can evolve and prepare for the future through P3s.

Mediaplanet: You founded the Creative Class Group which focuses on helping companies and regions achieve growth and prosperity. In your experience, what role can private partners play in

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November 18, 2019
Files / Working Papers

The Economist: Uncovering tomorrow’s innovation hotspots

Uncovering tomorrow’s innovation hotspots: The cities striving for emerging technology leadership is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Pictet, that explores where interest, innovation and commercial activity around emerging technologies are active and growing at scale. Its primary aim is to identify cities that are in a position to challenge, in the future, the leadership of the world’s largest innovation hubs, widely regarded to be Silicon Valley, New York and London.

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November 13, 2019
Profiles and Interviews

Bluedoor Magazine: All Together Now. Business, civic and cultural minds unite to bring “inclusive prosperity” to Orange Country

The Montage Laguna provided an apt backdrop for the day-long symposium, Diversity and the Creative Economy. The goal was razor focused: To discuss how inclusion and creativity can foster economic mobility and prosperity in Orange County, its stunning coastal landscape prominently displayed via 180-degree views from the luxury hotel.

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November 6, 2019
Events

Philadelphia Magazine: Richard Florida Releases His Plan to Solve Philly’s Budding “New Urban Crisis”

Richard Florida, the renowned urbanist who’s spent the past year studying Philadelphia as part of a yearlong fellowship sponsored by Drexel, Jefferson, and the University City Science Center, released his culminating report on Philly and its “new urban crisis” on Thursday evening. For Florida, whom we recently profiled, the report and the entire philosophy underpinning it represent a chance at redemption.

See, Florida has been pilloried within his own field of late for having an elites-centric thought process that critics say helped propel rising income inequality and housing prices. And it turns out those are two of the same symptoms he’s now trying to cure in Philadelphia. Here are four takeaways from Florida’s 41-page report.

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October 29, 2019
Miami Urban Future Initiative

The Miami Times: Units needed:130,000

Despite the voices calling attention to the need for more affordable housing, only about 3% of the 2019-2020 Miami-Dade County budget is dedicated to solving the crisis.

And a crisis it is.

Researchers say 130,000 new housing units are needed; the county has plans for 10,000.

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September 26, 2019
Miami Urban Future Initiative

The Urbanist: Tackling Inequality

Miami is known as a global destination for hospitality, but it also has a reputation as a deeply unequal place. The greater Miami metro region has a poverty rate of 14.3%, among the highest in the country.1 While the region boasts high-profile foreign investment, its middle class continues to shrink and the local economy is dominated by low-paying service jobs. Miami’s communities of color are disproportionately affected by these dynamics: Latino and black Miamians are twice or 2.5 times as likely, respectively, to live in poverty as white residents are.

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September 26, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Toronto Life: Sidewalk Labs is the future of urban tech

A dozen or so years ago, I was recruited to Toronto to establish the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank focused on urban, regional and national competitiveness. My wife and I have grown to love this city we call home. But Toronto needs to compete with the best of the best, and that’s why I support Sidewalk Labs’ Quayside project.

Toronto has made it into the ranks of global cities. It tends to place highly in rankings of quality of life. It has strong banks and a world-class real estate market. But despite the hype about high-tech in Toronto, we lag significantly behind the world’s leading cities.

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September 16, 2019
Miami Urban Future Initiative

The Miami Herald : Are Miami and South Florida losing their best and brightest college grads to brain drain?

For years, leaders struggling to broaden the economy of Miami and the rest of South Florida beyond low-paying service jobs have wrestled with a vexing dilemma: Have those efforts been hampered by a crippling brain drain?

After diving into the question of whether we’re having trouble keeping our college grads or providing them with rewarding work, one of the nation’s leading experts suggests in a report released last week that the answer is both yes and no. But the news on balance is not great for the metro area comprising Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

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August 23, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida ColumnsRichard Florida Columns

The Star: The border problem at Pearson airport

Canada prides itself on its reputation as an open, tolerant and caring place. Especially at our border, where the image of Justin Trudeau greeting refugees turned away from the United States was seen around the world. But, over the dozen years that we have lived in Toronto, we have regularly encountered problems when coming back home to Canada at Pearson Airport.

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July 17, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Globe and Mail: Sidewalk Labs could make Toronto a world leader in urban tech

Sidewalk Labs released its long-awaited plan on Monday, providing a detailed look at what it has in store for the city’s waterfront. To date, the controversy over the project has revolved around critical issues of privacy and the nature of its waterfront development. But there is another dimension to the initiative, one that has been largely missing from the conversation: the role of Sidewalk Labs’ project in Toronto and Canada’s future high-tech development.

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July 8, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Star: Is Sidewalk Labs’ Quayside project right for Toronto?

Urbanists and privacy experts across the city have raised important concerns about the Sidewalk Labs’ project on Toronto’s waterfront. But something important remains missing from the conversation. We are failing to consider what Sidewalk Labs can do for our economic future. This is a project that holds the promise of vaulting Toronto to world leadership in one of the most important fields of high-tech industry.

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July 8, 2019
Rana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida Columns

Biz Community: 7 tips to help you understand the creative class

Back in 2002, my husband, Professor Richard Florida, published the international best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class, an analysis of the forces that are reshaping our economy, our geography, the work we do, and our whole way of life. In it, he argued that just as our economy shifted from an agricultural basis to an industrial one in the late eighteenth century, we were entering a new epoch in which the most significant driver of economic growth is human creativity.

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June 4, 2019
Rana Florida Columns: Work

THE CONSUMER REDEFINED: THE CREATIVE CLASS.

We know that the type of traveller targeted by the LE collective is a unique breed: creative, rebellious and unpredictable. That’s why we’ve collaborated with the Creative Class® Group, a global think tank comprised of leading researchers, academics and strategists, to bring you exclusive research and insight that will enable you to understand their very modern mindset.

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May 30, 2019
Rana Florida Columns: City

National Ballet of Canada: MAD HOT BALLET: Desert Dream

Human expression has fostered joy, community and understanding in societies across time and place, helping individuals to connect in meaningful ways. Arts and culture tap into this universal drive toward expression and enrich our lives immeasurably, whether by promoting a sense of wellbeing, sharing ideas, cultivating beauty or prompting self-reflection and imagination. Our cities and communities would be sterile without the arts and the creativity and emotion they impart. We feel that dance is an important part of ar ts and culture and a power ful form of human expression, one that enhances our quality of life and contributes to our individual and social growth.

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May 30, 2019
Rana Florida - In the News

119 Corbo: Life & Style – Rana Florida

As a CEO, mother of two and frequent globetrotter, Rana Florida lives in the intersection of business, art, architecture, creativity and culture. But what of fashion, and where does it feature in her life? We needed to know, and so we met with the Creative Class Group CEO in the home she shares with her husband Richard, the international bestselling author, professor and urbanist. Their home is a perfect example of their design-led lifestyle, their vision executed by the ultra-creative firm Studio Pyramid and the interior designer Sasha Josipovicz.

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May 5, 2019
Rana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida Profiles

Vogue:The Cool Girl’s Guide to Toronto

Take ten million trees, 3.9 million people, 180 languages and dialects, the 7th largest stock exchange, the longest street in the world, and a renowned film festival. Throw in universal healthcare, the 8th largest LGBTQ2 pride parade, and the most rollicking Caribbean street festival anywhere, and you have Toronto. North America’s fourth largest city might also be its least understood and, with a broad mix of cultures, the hardest to classify. At times, the scene here can seem disparate, caught between affected grunge and unsettling flash, complete with a campy cadre of overdressed socialites. But then again, part of this metropolis’s beauty lies in its ability to make most anyone feel at home.

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May 5, 2019
Rana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida Profiles

Be The Next Her: Rana Florida, CEO, The Creative Class Group + Author of Upgrade

What is your morning routine?

I usually get woken up with a karate chop blow to the face; sometimes coming at me from both directions by 1 and 2-year-old feet. I will then untangle my hair from a puppy or cat wrapped around my head for warmth before tiptoeing like a ninja out of bed at 6 am. I will then check and respond to a crazy amount of work emails, both from clients and my team. I’m OCD, so will make sure every bed is made in perfect military fashion, the house in order, and dog, cats, babies all fed and dressed. I’m trying to take 15 minutes each morning to learn to meditate and clear my head before starting the workday.

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May 5, 2019
Rana Florida - In the News

Superb Crew: An Interview With Rana Florida, Chief Executive Officer Of The Creative Class Group

Q: Rana, tell us more about your background. What were you doing before The Creative Class Group?

A: My parents – first generation immigrants from Jordan – drilled the importance of education into me and my siblings. They wanted us all to become doctors or lawyers. I was not drawn to either profession, so I went to business school without a clue as to what I would end up doing. I just knew that I wanted to land a high-level corporate job and I did just that, in Washington, DC. I was super excited by my six-figure salary and bonuses but was not happy. I was stuck commuting in traffic all day, I had crazy bosses and I had no control over my time and schedule.

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May 5, 2019
Rana Florida - In the News

The Reading List: Rana Florida – Satisfying My Curiosity

Rana Florida is a CEO, Entrepreneur and best-selling business Author. As Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Class Group, Rana Florida manages new business development, marketing, consulting, research and global operations serving such diverse clients as BMW, Converse, IBM, Cirque du Soleil, Audi, Zappos, and Starwood Hotels – to name just a few. Rana has over two decades of experience in corporate strategy, communications and marketing, having executed marketing initiatives for the likes of Disney Live and Starbucks. She is well known as a writer on business and leadership, having written for Fast Company, Inc.com, and the Huffington Post. Rana Florida has also served as a guest business analyst on The Today Show and been featured in The New York Times, Vogue Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and more. Her one-on-one high profile interviews have covered notables – from President Bill Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama to Andre Agassi, and many more. Rana Florida has also been h

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May 5, 2019
Events

AP: World-Renowned Urbanist Richard Florida to Headline LGBTQ Alliance Symposium on Diversity and the Creative Economy

The Laguna Beach LGBTQ Heritage & Culture Alliance, along with Visionary Sponsor and real estate investment firm Laguna Beach Company, and Title Sponsor, Bank of America, today announced registration is open for Diversity and The Creative Economy, a symposium featuring international best-selling Author and Urbanist Richard Florida. The symposium will be held on Monday, April 29, 2019 at Montage Laguna Beach from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and will provide a platform for community members, local business, civic, legislative, cultural and educational leaders to discuss how inclusion and creativity can foster economic mobility and prosperity for Orange County. A portion of the event’s proceeds will be donated to Laguna Beach Pride 365, Club Q Laguna at Laguna Beach Seniors and The Blaze Bernstein Memorial Fund.

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May 5, 2019
Rana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida Columns

Miami Herrald: The end of the office

The Miami metro — which spans Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties — aspires to become a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation, and it is making dramatic progress. According to research conducted by the Miami Urban Future Initiative, a joint effort of Florida International University’s College of Communication, Architecture and the Arts and the Creative Class Group, both venture capital investment and venture capital deals have increased more than threefold in the region since 2005.

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May 5, 2019
Profiles and Interviews

Top Hat: How a Riot, a Rock Band and Rutgers Led to the Rise of Richard Florida

Childhood, interrupted. I was born in Newark. My dad worked at the Victory Optical factory making eyeglass frames, and we lived in the Italian district of Newark. My parents had a rental apartment overlooking Branch Brook Park. Later we moved close by to North Arlington, New Jersey, because of the Catholic school, Queen of Peace, where my brother and I went. It’s the suburb that’s featured in the opening credits of The Sopranos.

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May 5, 2019
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Miami’s Community Newspapers: Miami Beach Chamber Pillar Trustee Board Sets Vision for 2020

On February 22, the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Pillar Trustee Board hosted their inaugural Goals conference where business leaders, city officials, residents and stakeholders discussed challenges and opportunities facing Miami Beach. More than 150 guests attended the event and heard remarks from City of Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber , Leading Urbanist Richard Florida and Marketing Strategist Bruce Turkel.

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April 11, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRana Florida Columns

The Inquireer: Philadelphia’s next challenge: Stemming the tide of America’s new urban crisis

Philadelphia has long been one of my favorite cities. Having grown up in New Jersey and gone to college at Rutgers, I’ve been visiting, and tracking, the city since the mid-1970s. I saw it in perhaps its most hard-pressed days and cheered on the stunning revival of its downtown area over the past decade or so. I’ve been visiting even more now, as the inaugural Philadelphia Fellow sponsored by Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University City Science Center, where I have been working with local stakeholders and academics to benchmark where the city stands on key metrics and to develop strategies for the future.

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April 11, 2019
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Miami Herald: Miami lost Amazon’s HQ2.

South Florida’s bid to attract Amazon’s HQ2 may have come up short when it came to landing the big prize. But in a panel discussion Tuesday, regional leaders said the bid process itself has galvanized the tri-county area to think and work more collaboratively.

“This process showed an extraordinary level of regional cooperation, done in a record amount of time,” said urbanist Richard Florida, who led the discussion of the panel, “What Did We Learn From Our Amazon Adventure.”

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April 11, 2019
Profiles and Interviews

Mortgage Broker News: Toronto condo shortage paving the way for worse affordability

The pace at which new condos are added to Toronto’s red-hot housing market is nowhere near enough to fulfil the needs of a veritable surge of renters and would-be buyers, according to a recent report by Altus Group Ltd.

Since 2005, only around 60 purpose-built rental buildings have been erected in the market, offering a total of 11,620 new units over the 13-year period from then to the present.

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April 11, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Harvard Business Review: How the Geography of Startups and Innovation Is Changing

We’re used to thinking of high-tech innovation and startups as generated and clustered predominantly in fertile U.S. ecosystems, such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York. But as with so many aspects of American economic ingenuity, high-tech startups have now truly gone global. The past decade or so has seen the dramatic growth of startup ecosystems around the world, from Shanghai and Beijing, to Mumbai and Bangalore, to London, Berlin, Stockholm, Toronto and Tel Aviv. A number of U.S. cities continue to dominate the global landscape, including the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, but the rest of the world is gaining ground rapidly.

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April 11, 2019
Events

Benzinga: Venture Café Philadelphia Kicks Off with Richard Florida as Featured Speaker

Venture Café Philadelphia will kick off its first Thursday night gathering on November 29 with prominent urban studies theorist, Richard Florida. The inaugural Venture Café Philadelphia Thursday gathering will take place from 3 – 8 p.m. at the newly opened 3675 Market Street where the University City Science Center is headquartered.

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading urbanists. He is a researcher and professor, serving as University Professor and Director of Cities at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, a Distinguished Fellow at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, and a Visiting Fellow at Florida International University.

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April 11, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Star: A blueprint to help Mayor Tory get Toronto unstuck

Toronto Mayor John Tory’s resounding victory last month gave him an “historic mandate,” as he put it. He’ll need it, because the city he is leading is badly stuck, unable to address the deep challenges it faces. Indeed, the mayor must use his hard-won political capital to make headway on four key fronts.

First and foremost is affordable housing. Tory has said he will make housing and housing affordability a priority of his second term, declaring that “we must do more to speed up the increase in supply of affordable housing.”

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April 11, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Washington Post: The U.S. has lost its entrepreneurial advantage

lobalization strikes again. The latest target is entrepreneurship.

For decades, promoting start-up firms through venture capital and other methods of business investment seemed a peculiarly American strength. It has nurtured countless tech firms, including titans such as Facebook, Google and Apple. Americans have been duly proud. It reinforced a sense of national exceptionalism, because other countries couldn’t easily duplicate it, if at all.

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April 11, 2019
International publicationsOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

endi: Tribuna Invitada, El potencial creativo de América Latina

En estos tiempos, la clave para el desarrollo económico de América Latina ya no solamente incluye sus materias primas y sus manufacturas, sino también un recurso ilimitado aunque ignorado por muchos: el inmenso potencial creativo de la región. La creatividad forma indiscutiblemente parte del ADN de las sociedades, ciudades y barrios latinoamericanos,

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April 11, 2019
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Miami After HQ2: Why and How the Region Must Grow Its Own Amazons

With Amazon’s search for its second headquarters or “HQ2” finally over, it’s time for Greater Miami to get back to the business of building its own economy. The fact that Miami was selected as one of 20 finalists out of the 238 cities that applied to the original request for proposals reflects the tremendous strides the region has made in the economic development arena.

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January 23, 2019
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Wall Street Journal : Can the U.S. Keep Its High-Tech Edge?

While recent headlines have blared about the Trump administration’s multi-front trade war with Canadian dairy farmers, Chinese manufacturers and the European Union’s steel, aluminum and automotive industries, a much larger economic threat has gone virtually unnoticed. The high-tech startups that have provided the U.S. with a powerful edge in fields such as computers, software, mobile devices, biotech, the internet and an array of digital platforms now face rapidly increasing pressures from foreign competition. This looming crisis of American innovation could undermine the nation’s long-running global advantage in bringing to market the next new technology, the next new industry, the next big thing. It may well be the gravest challenge yet to America’s century-plus hold on global economic hegemony.

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November 16, 2018
Events

The Detroit News : Dan Gilbert discusses impact of private sector at CityLab Detroit

If city and civic leaders want an example of how instrumental the private sector can be in the transformation of a city, they can look at billionaire investor Dan Gilbert. Gilbert and his family of companies were highlighted during a Monday afternoon session for CityLab, a three-day conference at the GM Renaissance Center with participants from 156 cities across 27 countries. He sat down for a chat with Richard Florida, co-founder and editor at large of CityLab.com and senior editor of The Atlantic.

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November 16, 2018
CanadaOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Globe and Mail : Solving Canada’s startup dilemma

Canada, we increasingly hear, is becoming a global leader in high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship. Report after report has ranked Toronto, Waterloo and Vancouver among the world’s most up-and-coming tech hubs. Toronto placed fourth in a ranking of North American tech talent this past summer, behind only the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington, and in 2017 its metro area added more tech jobs than those other three city-regions combined.

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November 16, 2018
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

New York Daily News : Our real national divide: Local America vs. National America

It goes without saying: Ours is a divided nation. But the real boundary doesn’t run between Blue or Red states, liberal and conservative ideologies, or urban versus rural regions. No, the real divide in America is one of scale. Richard Florida and Mick Cornett belong to different political parties, and differ sharply on a number of policy views. But they share a core belief that our country’s future lies in Local America.

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November 16, 2018
CanadaEvents

Toronto Star : Toronto is a ‘city state’ and needs to start acting like it: Richard Florida

Toronto is a city on “the brink” of not fully realizing its potential and must think about a new model for growth if it wants to thrive and stand out as an example of a modern global metropolis, says urban studies expert Richard Florida. Speaking at Urban Land Institute Toronto’s symposium on Toronto urbanism, Florida, one of the world’s leading urban thinkers and a professor at the University of Toronto’s school of cities and Rotman School of Management, said Toronto is an incredible city but one that faces significant challenges including housing affordability, a “worsening class divide” and woeful traffic congestion.

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November 16, 2018
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Globe and Mail : How Toronto can curb gun violence

A shadow hangs over Toronto after Sunday’s shooting on the Danforth. The recent killing spree follows on the heels of a vehicle attack on Yonge Street this spring and a raft of shootings, including one with small children in the crossfire last month. The city’s international reputation as a multicultural success story seems at risk, as Torontonians fear they are succumbing to the twin threats of gun violence and terrorism vexing other global cities.

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November 15, 2018
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Medium : Toronto’s Deadly Car Crisis

Torontonians like to sound off on Americans’ inability to deal with guns and gun deaths. But Toronto’ s inability to deal with the car creates its own killing fields. Today, more Torontonians die from being hit by cars than from being killed by guns. In 2016, nearly 2,000 pedestrians and 1,000 cyclists in the city were hit by cars. Of these, 43 resulted in fatalities.

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November 15, 2018
CitiesEvents

Urban Land Magazine : Keeping Life Affordable in Asia’s Fast-Growing Cities

Growing cities such as Hong Kong are at the epicenter of what Richard Florida has dubbed “the new urban crisis,” with the city’s success sending house prices soaring out of reach of the average resident. The author and urbanist, who is director of cities at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, spoke at the 2018 ULI Asia Pacific Summit in Hong Kong.

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November 15, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Florida Trend : Miami Ranks First in the U.S. for Foreign Born Residents and International Cargo

Miami ranks first among large U.S. metros for the share of its residents who are immigrants (41 percent of the population), placing the metro ahead of San Jose, L.A., and San Francisco, according to a new research brief from the FIU + CCG | Miami Urban Future Initiative (MUFI). The report also finds that Miami ranks first among large U.S. metros according to the amount of merchandise goods, commodities, and cargo that it transported internationally in 2016 ($1.5 million tons).

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November 15, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

PR Newswire : Miami Ranks First in the U.S. for Foreign Born Residents and International Cargo

Miami ranks first among large U.S. metros for the share of its residents who are immigrants (41% of the population), placing the metro ahead of San Jose, L.A., and San Francisco, according to a new research brief from the FIU + CCG | Miami Urban Future Initiative (MUFI). The report also finds that Miami ranks first among large U.S. metros according to the amount of merchandise goods, commodities, and cargo that it transported internationally in 2016 ($1.5 million tons).

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November 15, 2018
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Globe and Mail : The economic price of electing Doug Ford

Ontario’s recent economic success is the product of longer-run investments in universities, arts and culture; advanced research in key fields like artificial intelligence; openness to immigrants; and a growing commitment to place-making and city-building. This economic advantage will be significantly diminished if Doug Ford becomes premier of Ontario. Comparisons are already being made between Mr. Ford and Mr. Trump, as well as between Mr. Trump and Mr. Ford’s late younger brother, Rob, the original North American populist. All three positioned themselves as advocates for the “little guy,” slashing taxes and cutting back government. Like Mr. Trump, Doug Ford has even hired actors for campaign events.

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November 15, 2018
Employment

The Washington Post : He went from jail to a $22-an-hour job. How can America get more stories like this?

This article references the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports : Can Low-Wage Workers Find Better Jobs?
authored by Richard Florida, Todd Gabe, and Jaison R. Abel. There is growing concern over rising economic inequality, the decline of the middle class, and a polarization of the U.S. workforce. This study examines the extent to which low-wage workers in the United States transition to better jobs, and explores the factors associated with uch a move up the job ladder.

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November 15, 2018
Files / Working Papers

Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports : Can Low-Wage Workers Find Better Jobs?

There is growing concern over rising economic inequality, the decline of the middle class, and a polarization of the U.S. workforce. This study authored by Richard Florida, Todd Gabe, and Jaison R. Abel, examines the extent to which low-wage workers in the United States transition to better jobs, and explores the factors associated with uch a move up the job ladder.

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November 15, 2018
Rise of the Creative Class News Articles

The Detroit Free Press : Design industries are critical to Detroit’s future but need nurturing

Back in 2002, urban guru Richard Florida published his influential book “The Rise of the Creative Class,” which highlighted the importance of so-called “creatives” — artists, graphic designers, architects, and others — to the vitality of cities trying to overcome long-term decline. Florida’s book helped set the agenda for many a city, including Detroit, where the CEO group Business Leaders for Michigan launched the Detroit Creative Corridor Center in 2010.

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November 15, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

PR Newswire : Miami Startups Receive $1.3 Billion in Venture Capital – 8th in the U.S.

Miami ranks eighth among large U.S. metros for the total amount of venture capital invested in its high-tech startups ($1.3 billion in 2016), according to a new research brief from the FIU + CCG | Miami Urban Future Initiative (MUFI). The brief also finds that Miami’s high-tech companies each earned an average of $14.2 million in venture capital investment in 2016—the second-highest share among large metros.

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November 15, 2018
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Toronto Star : Canada should be winning even more Olympic gold

With the help of his colleagues at the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, Patrick Adler and Charlotta Mellander, Richard Florida ranked Canada’s, and each nation’s Olympic medal performance relative to their population, size of their economy and number of athletes on their Olympic teams. So, how does Canada’s performance measure up on metrics like these?

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November 15, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Urban Land Magazine : As Art Revitalizes Urban Neighborhoods, Maintaining Affordability Remains a Challenge

In February, MUFI held it’s 2nd event hosted by ULI Southeast Florida/Caribbean gathering a panel of researchers, real estate developers, and economic development agencies at the new Arts & Entertainment District—the latest neighborhood to emerge as a cultural destination for city residents—to address these persistent challenges and offer some solutions for driving more inclusive development by attracting a creative class.

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February 20, 2018
Profiles and Interviews

Gecina Interview : [#Remarks by Richard Florida] Why 2018 will be the year (or not) of the “real estate tech” movement?

Interview with Bernard Michel, Chairman of Gecina French Real Estate Investment Trust. For Richard Florida, the real estate tech movement is a key part of the inclusive urban development and the future of work. But technology as « pharmakon », is also a reality that we need to consider in order to avoid falling into a dystopian scenario: the metropolisation vortex.

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February 12, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Brief : Benchmarking Miami’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The Miami metro—which spans Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties—is an aspiring hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. While Miami has long been a breeding ground for small businesses, the economic value of these businesses has historically trailed behind that of leading tech hubs like the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, Seattle, and Boston-Cambridge. But the tide appears to be turning in Miami’s favor.The following research brief from the Miami Urban Future Initiative provides a data-driven assessment of the economic growth and competitiveness of the Miami metro, comparing its performance in recent years to all 53 of America’s large metros with populations of more than one million people.

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February 6, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Miami Herald : Miami wants to be a creative hub. Here’s what might keep that from happening.

The report, Benchmarking Miami’s Talent Base, is the latest in a series of research briefs produced by the FIU-Creative Class joint venture. The multi-year initiative was underwritten by the Knight Foundation to help local business and civic leaders learn more about where Miami stands in comparison to other U.S. cities in fostering the sort of knowledge-driven occupations necessary to compete in the modern economy.

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February 6, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

PR Newswire : Miami’s Creative Workforce Ranks 11th Among Large U.S. Metros

FIU + CCG |MIAMI URBAN FUTURE INITIATIVE RESEARCH BRIEF: Benchmarking Miami’s Talent Base. In its latest research report, “Benchmarking Miami’s Talent Base,” MUFI evaluates Miami’s human capital assets compared to 52 large U.S. metros with more than one million people. Supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the report specifically examines Miami’s creative workforce, educational attainment levels, and share of students, faculty, and college and university graduates.

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February 6, 2018
CitiesOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

CNN : The disturbing part about Amazon’s HQ2 competition

Amazon’s short list of contenders for its much ballyhooed HQ2 reads like a who’s who of the most economically vibrant and dynamic cities in North America. There’s one part of Amazon’s HQ2 competition that is deeply disturbing — pitting city against city in a wasteful and economically unproductive bidding war for tax and other incentives. As one of the world’s most valuable companies, Amazon does not need — and should not be going after — taxpayer dollars that could be better used on schools, parks, transit, housing or other much needed public goods.

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February 6, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Report: Miami’s New Urban Crisis

Greater Miami has experienced remarkable economic success in recent years. The metro area—which spans Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties—is now the eighth-largest in the United States, with around 6.1 million residents and economic output that exceeds that of many nations. As a symbol of Miami’s dramatic growth, its downtown has been stunningly transformed into a bustling area featuring new restaurants and hotels, an expanding cluster of startup companies, and a twenty-first century skyline of high-rise offices and condo towers.

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January 26, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Brief: Benchmarking Miami’s Talent Base

Talent is a key driver of advanced economies. Highly educated and skilled individuals drive income, wages, and economic growth in cities and metros across the globe. As Miami aspires to the ranks of leading global cities, how does its talent base stack up? The following research brief from the Miami Urban Future Initiative provides a data-driven assessment of the Miami metro’s talent base, comparing its performance in recent years to all 53 of America’s large metros with populations of more than one million people.

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January 26, 2018
The New Urban Crisis Press

Co.Design : 10 Must-Read Design Books To Get You Ready For 2018

The title of urbanism theorist Richard Florida’s latest book–The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It–outlines the defining tensions in our cities today. In earlier writing, Florida defined many of the progressive notions about how the creative class could drive social and economic progress, but these notions have fallen short. In this book, he reckons with the failings and promise of his theories, and suggests course corrections to help cities become more equitable.

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January 4, 2018
Miami Urban Future Initiative

WLRN (Video): The Super City of Miami; The Hungry Blackman

South Florida offers a plethora of dining options from all nationalities catering to different tastes, whims and budgets. Many self-proclaimed “foodies,” lovers of food, take it upon themselves to write about their experiences traveling to different eateries around the Magic City and beyond.

Miami blogger Starex Smith does just that, traveling and writing about his experiences as a hungry black man. In his blog, The Hungry Blackman, Smith mixes reviews, restaurant recommendations and profiles from the different establishments that he visits locally and in different states.

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December 12, 2017
Miami Urban Future Initiative

Markets Insider : Miami Urban Future Initiative Research Report: Miami Ranks 6th Among Large U.S. Metros on the New Urban Crisis Index

Miami faces growing challenges of inclusion and affordability. According to a new analysis by the FIU | Miami Urban Future Initiative, the Miami metropolitan area ranks sixth among large U.S. metros on the New Urban Crisis Index, a composite measure of economic inequality, economic segregation, and housing unaffordability.

The Miami Urban Future Initiative is a joint effort between the Creative Class Group and Florida International University’s College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts (CARTA), funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to develop new research for building a stronger and more inclusive economy in Miami.

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December 11, 2017
Miami Urban Future Initiative

PR Newswire : Miami Urban Future Initiative Research Report: Miami Ranks 6th Among Large U.S. Metros on the New Urban Crisis Index

Miami faces growing challenges of inclusion and affordability. According to a new analysis by the FIU | Miami Urban Future Initiative, the Miami metropolitan area ranks sixth among large U.S. metros on the New Urban Crisis Index, a composite measure of economic inequality, economic segregation, and housing unaffordability.The Miami Urban Future Initiative is a joint effort between the Creative Class Group and Florida International University’s College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts (CARTA), funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to develop new research for building a stronger and more inclusive economy in Miami.

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December 11, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

What The Future Project 2017 : Question: Will today’s high-end urban amenities become tomorrow’s status quo?

Nearly 20 years ago, urban theorist Richard Florida identified a group of highly-skilled workers whose outsized contributions were driving economic change and development in cities around the globe. His book, “the Rise of the Creative Class” detailed the characteristics of this type of worker and more importantly how to nurture and attract them. Its core findings were adopted by mayors worldwide. The trends identified in Florida’s research contributed to the seismic shifts, growth and revitalization in downtowns large and small. Those changes have not been painless for all involved and have lead to what Florida, in his new book, calls the “New Urban Crisis.” So when Richard Florida asks What the Future, he wonders if developers are recognizing the new realities.

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November 14, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Forbes : Invest In Cities To Narrow The Inequality Gap

Fortunately, when it comes to cities, there is Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and author of The Rise of the Creative Class, which explained how a new generation of people was reviving ailing industrial centres. Now, he is explaining how that trend is, among other factors, helping to intensify the issues confronting many urban centres. The New Urban Crisis is subtitled “Gentrification, Housing Bubbles, Growing Inequality and What We Can Do About It”, and, while Florida’s analysis of how we got here is unsurprisingly insightful, it is that last bit that is crucial.

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November 14, 2017
Files / Working Papers

MPI : Winner-Take-All Cities

This chapter examines the phenomenon of “winner-take-all urbanism” and “winner
-take-all cities.” Large segments of the modern economy have been shown to conform to a “winner-take-all” pattern as superstar talent draws a disproportionate share of economic rewards.

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November 2, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Financial Times : The downside of the race to be Amazon’s second home

The bids to host Amazon’s much ballyhooed second headquarters are in from dozens of cities across the US and Canada. With its promise of 50,000-plus jobs and billions in investment, it has been hailed as one of the biggest urban development opportunities in recent memory. However, things are not working out exactly as the ecommerce group may have hoped. Resentment among city leaders is growing at what looks like a big, well-capitalised company taking advantage of cities and their taxpayers.

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October 25, 2017
EventsThe New Urban Crisis Press

Urban Land Magazine : Richard Florida Notes Unexpected Effects of the Creative Class’s Rise

As Florida explained in a talk at the 2017 ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, he warned of “a growing divide between places that are winning and places that are failing to keep up.” That societal split is the subject of his latest book, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It.

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October 25, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Nature : Comment: Where the streets are paved with ideas

Most of the world’s research and entrepreneurship is concentrated in a few megacities.Innovation is geographically uneven. The world’s 40 richest mega-regions — expansive conurbations such as the Boston–New York–Washington DC corridor, Greater London, or the passage that runs from Shanghai to Beijing — account for more than 85% of the world’s patents, and 83% of the most-cited scientists. And yet, only 18% of the world’s population lives in them.

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October 19, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Globe and Mail : The Trump effect: It’s Canada’s moment to win the global race for talent

Google’s Sidewalk Labs subsidiary has apparently chosen the Toronto waterfront as the place it will create a veritable city of the future, developing and prototyping new technology-enabled ways of working, living and getting around. And Toronto is placed at or near the top of many short lists for Amazon’s new second headquarters, over which more than 50 communities across North America are competing.Why have Toronto, and Canada more broadly, suddenly become so attractive to major U.S. tech companies? The election of Donald Trump may be the veritable tipping point, but Canada’s ability to compete for top global talent has been growing for a while.

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October 10, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

ABC RN: The new urban crisis (video)

Richard Florida is one of the most influential thinkers about cities in the postwar world. For almost two decades he championed the creative classes – artists, tech and knowledge workers and entrepreneurs – who he said would revolutionise our cities and stimulate economic growth.

Today he has changed his mind.

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October 8, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Forbes : Is The American Urban Revival Over?

Florida has become quite concerned that the winners of the urban revival over the last 15-20 years — cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston and Washington — have become victims of their own success as they’ve become high-priced meccas specifically tailored to the needs and wishes of the creative class.

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September 27, 2017
CitiesOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida ColumnsThe New Urban Crisis Press

Crains New York Business : How to grow New York and other cities—while reducing inequality

As the world’s most economically powerful financial center and a budding hub for high-tech industry, New York City has grown increasingly segregated and unequal—particularly in areas surrounding new development. Now more than ever, the city has become a contested ground for space, spurring a local backlash among community members who can no longer afford to live where they are. With the current presidential administration and Republican majority on Capitol Hill unlikely to lend their support, New York must now turn to its local leaders, communities, and anchor institutions—universities, medical centers, real estate developers and large corporations—to mitigate this new urban crisis.

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September 26, 2017
Rana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: City

The Huffington Post : City Leaders Cower to Pressure to Remove a Stop Sign – Residents in a Fury

n July 2017, in response to a formal request from the North Rosedale Residents’ Association, the city of Toronto placed two new stop signs at the intersections of Glen Road and Roxborough Drive and Glen Road and Binscarth Road. A month after the signs were installed, the residents’ association requested that they be taken down.

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September 21, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRana Florida Columns: WorkRichard Florida Columns

Toronto Star: Building six million good jobs in Canada

Today, more than six million Canadians — 40 per cent of Canada’s workers — toil in low-paying routine service jobs, preparing and serving our food, waiting on us in stores and retail shops, doing office work, and providing a wide range of personal and health care service, from cutting our hair and giving us massages, to taking care of our kids and aging parents.

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September 20, 2017
Opinion Editorials

The Star: Building six million good jobs in Canada

Today, more than six million Canadians — 40 per cent of Canada’s workers — toil in low-paying routine service jobs, preparing and serving our food, waiting on us in stores and retail shops, doing office work, and providing a wide range of personal and health care service, from cutting our hair and giving us massages, to taking care of our kids and aging parents.

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September 20, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

New York Daily News: Stop giving away the store, N.Y.: Aetna shouldn’t get big tax breaks to come to Manhattan

Last June, Aetna announced that it was moving its headquarters from Hartford, Conn., where it has been located since 1853, to the Meatpacking District in New York City. New York, Aetna’s CEO Mark Bertolini told The New York Times, offers “the ecosystem of having people in the knowledge economy, working in a town they want to be living in, and we want to attract those folks, and we want to have them on our team. It’s very hard to recruit people like that to Hartford.”

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September 20, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

NewCo Shift: Can Business and New Federalism Save Our Cities?

Richard Florida is an academic, author, and leading voice on all things urban studies. His Rise of the Creative Class, first published in 2002, predicted a resurgence in city centers due to a new class of creative “knowledge workers.” His insights helped to catalyze scores of major city redevelopment efforts. Hailed as a far-reaching seer for predicting the tech and arts-driven boom in American cities, Florida’s work has recently been called into question for the unexpected consequences of urban renewal, in particular gentrification and its attendant income inequality, which has pushed lower income and diverse populations from cities throughout the United States.

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September 20, 2017
Richard Florida Columns

Houston Chronical: Florida, Rose: Post-Harvey, the city must reset its development trajectory

There is little doubt that the Greater Houston area will rebound and rebuild after Harvey. This has long been one of the world’s fastest-growing and most vibrant regions, with a population fast approaching 7 million and projected to pass 11 million by 2050. With an economic output of nearly $500 billion, Houston’s economy would place it among the 25 wealthiest nations in the world. It’s a center of high-tech energy production and medical research.

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September 8, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

The Berkshire Eagle: Leonard Quart: Letter From New York|:Maintaining equality while reviving cities

NEW YORK — In his 2002 book “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida argued that in order to save themselves from post-industrial ruin, cities needed to attract the best young talent in computer programming, finance, media and the arts. Some cities followed his prescription and made themselves more vibrant by creating more walkable, pedestrian-friendly streets, caf and restaurant areas that acted as lively gathering places, refurbished parks, and art and music scenes. Those cities became magnets for what Florida called the “creative class,” but the consequences as Florida soon discovered were complex and not all of them worth cheering.

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September 5, 2017
Files / Working Papers

MPI BUILDING 65 MILLION GOOD JOBS The Geography of Low-Paid Service Class Jobs and How to Begin to Upgrade Them

This report takes a deep dive into America’s Service Class. The
Service Class includes 65 million workers who toil in precarious,
low-skill, low-pay jobs in fields like Food Preparation and Service, Retail Trade, Personal Care, and Clerical and Administrative positions.
Our research outlines the dramatic growth of the Service Class,
documents the low wages paid to Service Class workers, and charts
the large share of women and minorities that make up Service
Class workers.

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September 5, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The New York Times : The Urban Revival Is Over

For all the concern about the gentrification, rising housing prices and the growing gap between the rich and poor in our leading cities, an even bigger threat lies on the horizon: The urban revival that swept across America over the past decade or two may be in danger. As it turns out, the much-ballyhooed new age of the city might be giving way to a great urban stall-out.

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September 1, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

ReInvent (VIDEO): The City is the New Arena for Class Conflict

Just a few years ago, many urban planners and theorists described the next-generation of cities as hopeful harbingers of a new world filled with less consumption and increased opportunity, a remarkable combination of efficiency, sustainability, and scale. After a decades-long slide sparked by the urban riots in the 1960s, cities were on the comeback trail. Or so we thought.

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August 28, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

ReInvent: Cities, Once Beacons of a Progressive Future, Now Face A Class Crisis

Just a few years ago, many urban planners and theorists described the next-generation of cities as hopeful harbingers of a new world filled with less consumption and increased opportunity, a remarkable combination of efficiency, sustainability, and scale. After a decades-long slide sparked by the urban riots in the 1960s, cities were on the comeback trail. Or so we thought.

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August 28, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

ReInvent (VIDEO) : “Urbanism for All”—Achieving a More Inclusive Prosperity through Cities

Richard Florida, City Lab Co-Founder and editor at large, sees the contemporary American city as a battleground for class conflict, and believes that the solution is more urbanism—specifically, what Florida terms “urbanism for all.” Florida’s recently published book, The New Urban Crisis, reexamines many of the ideas laid out in his bestselling 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class. According to Florida, the old urban crisis was based around the city center.

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August 28, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

ReInvent: “Urbanism for All”—Achieving a More Inclusive Prosperity through Cities

Richard Florida, City Lab Co-Founder and editor at large, sees the contemporary American city as a battleground for class conflict, and believes that the solution is more urbanism—specifically, what Florida terms “urbanism for all.” Florida’s recently published book, The New Urban Crisis, reexamines many of the ideas laid out in his bestselling 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class. According to Florida, the old urban crisis was based around the city center.

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August 28, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Sand Francisco Review of Books: Book Review: ‘The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity’ by Richard Florida

In the first chapter, Richard Florida explains that peaks and valleys are part of the lifecycle of any society as “obsolete and dysfunctional systems and practices” collapse, replaced by “the seeds of innovation and invention, of creativity and entrepreneurship.” The First Great Reset occurred in the 1870s, the Second in the 1930s, and a Third is now developing. “The promise of the current Reset is the opportunity for a life made better not by ownership of real estate, appliances, cars, and all manner of material goods, but of greater flexibility and lower levels of debt, of more time with family and friends, greater promise of personal development, and access to more and better experiences. All organisms and all systems experience the cycles of life, death, and rebirth.”

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August 14, 2017
Files / Working Papers

Martin Prosperity Institute: Job Growth in Canadian and U.S. Metros

This report examines job growth across Canada and the United States. It uses data from Emsi data for the period 2001–2016 for the 222 metros that had more than 100,000 jobs in 2016. This includes 203 U.S., 91 percent of the total, and 19 Canadian metros, 9 percent of them. We also look at job change for the more recent 2012–2016 post-economic crisis and recovery period. (Emsi compiles its labor market analytics from U.S. and Canadian government sources).

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August 2, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Fortune: The Wealth Gap in the U.S. Is Worse Than In Russia or Iran

According to New York Times columnist David Brooks, socioeconomic segregation is ruining America.
“Housing and construction rules that keep the poor and less educated away from places with good schools and good job opportunities…have a devastating effect on economic growth nationwide,” Brooks wrote in a much-derided July 11 column. (Derided not for the sentiment outlined above so much as the evidence, which involved Italian cold cuts as a restrictive cultural signifier for the American upper middle class.)

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August 2, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

RNZ: (Video)Gentrification and the new urban crisis

Fifteen years ago Richard Florida, one of the world’s leading urbanists, urged city leaders to make urban areas more attractive to the creative class; college-educated millennials, entrepreneurs and artists.

In his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, he argued that these people would help revitalize blighted urban areas and help under resourced communities.

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August 2, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

American Prospect: The Pittsburgh Conundrum

orty years after the decline of the steel industry, Pittsburgh has emerged from the ashes of deindustrialization to become the new Emerald City. Its formidable skyline gleams with homegrown names—PPG, UPMC, and PNC. Touted as the “most livable city” by the likes of The Economist and Forbes, its highly literate and educated workforce has contributed to a robust and diverse local economy known as a center for technology, health care, and bio-science. It is a leader in startup businesses. Uber and Ford’s announcement in 2016 that they would base development of their self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, rather than in Silicon Valley, is a telling example of the power of high-tech image and low costs.

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July 26, 2017
Opinion Editorials

New York Daily News: Two nations, red & blue: Urban giants have less and less in common with the rest of America, leaving U.S. politics beyond repair

Does the looming special counsel investigation into potential collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin presage a less-than-four-year incumbency for this President? One can always hope. Certainly, resignation, impeachment or a 25th Amendment solution seem much more likely today than they did a year ago, when the very idea of a Trump presidency strained credulity.

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July 13, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Inside Higher Ed: The Rural University and Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’

The first interpretation is that Florida responding to his critics that the secret to urban prosperity is to focus on attracting creative class employees and employers. The book is something of a mea culpa that Florida overestimated the ability of cultural amenities to drive urban success, and underestimated how the growth of urban knowledge economies can serve to drive economic inequality.

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July 13, 2017
Richard Florida Columns

Harvard Business Review: What Inclusive Urban Development Can Look Like

Inclusive prosperity is the idea that the opportunity and benefits of economic growth should be widely shared by all segments of society. Most cities fall well short of that ideal. While urban areas continue to afford new opportunities to employees and businesses from all walks of life, they are increasingly split between wealthy, high-skill knowledge workers and low-paid service workers.

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July 11, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

KQED: Google Eyes San Jose for Campus for 20,000 Employees

Last week, the San Jose City Council voted to start negotiations with Google to sell the company 23 acres of city owned land near the Diridon Caltrain Station. The purchase is part of Google’s plan to build a massive transit oriented village that would include six to eight million square feet of office and retail space and bring up to 20,000 Google employees to the city. Community activists are concerned about pressures the development may exert on wages and housing prices and the overall impact it may have on San Jose’s culture. In this hour, we’ll learn about Google’s possible San Jose campus and we want to hear from you — if your town is home to a large company — what are the benefits and drawbacks?

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June 29, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

The Chicago Forum on Global Cities: (video) The Urban Crisis

What policy priorities are needed for global cities to drive more sustainable and inclusive prosperity? How does today’s technology revolution affect how cities build a strong, enduring, middle class? How are cities providing access to the skills and training needed for city youth to fill the jobs of tomorrow? Can global cities grow a thriving creative class without a new urban crisis perpetuating small areas of affluence aside much larger areas of disadvantage?

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June 29, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

New York Times: Why America’s Great Cities Are Becoming More Economically Segregated

Richard Florida became famous among people who think about cities 15 years ago with “The Rise of the Creative Class.” He predicted that postindustrial cities would succeed by focusing on the three Ts: technology, talent and tolerance. People in the “creative class” benefit from density, he said, and would move to places where laws are kind to tech entrepreneurs, where museums provide an evening out and where gay people are comfortable. Indeed, New York recovered its private-sector jobs nearly four years faster than the nation after the Great Recession.

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June 26, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Politico: A Declaration of Urban Independence

On Monday, November 7, 2016, I made what I thought were the final edits to the manuscript of my latest book, The New Urban Crisis, and sent it off to my publisher. The next day, my wife and I invited our American friends to come to our house in Toronto to celebrate what we were all but certain would be Hillary Clinton’s election. We pulled out all the stops. We hung up red, white and blue bunting, and dressed our baby and our puppy to match. My wife’s sisters supplied us with life-sized cutouts of Clinton and Donald Trump, which they had literally “muled” over the border from the Detroit suburbs. At 6 p.m., when the polls began to close, we turned on the TV to watch the early returns. By 8:30, the party had come to a crashing stop. I spent the rest of the night glued to Twitter; I hardly even noticed when the last of our guests departed.

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June 23, 2017
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

Evonomics: Richard Florida: It’s Not (Just) the Working Class. It’s the Service Class.

The Service Class, not the Working Class, is the key to the Democrats’ future. Members of the blue-collar Working Class are largely white men, working in declining industries like manufacturing, as well as construction, transportation, and other manual trades. Members of the Service Class work in rapidly growing industries like food service, clerical and office work, retail stores, hospitality, personal assistance, and the caring industries. The Service Class has more than double the members of the Working Class – 65 million versus 30 million members, and is made up disproportionately of women and members of ethnic and racial minorities.

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June 14, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Tennessee Politics: (Video) Richard Florida on wages, taxes and empowering locals

This is an addendum to a previously published broadcast recorded on May 19, 2017. I explored with University of Toronto Professor and Richard Florida some of his proposed solutions he outlines in his latest book “The New Urban Crisis.” These include how to transform low wage service work into middle-class family-supporting work and how to update the tax code to make it less regressive and more fair. Dr. Florida also shared his blunt observations on how to empower local communities and address the divide in America between urban, rural and suburban communities.

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June 13, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Harvard Business Review: Are the Super-Rich Really Ruining the World’s Great Cities?

Every time I have visited London over the past several years, I invariably hear the same story from my taxi driver. As we drive past Hyde Park on the way to or from the airport, he will say, “You see that building?” nodding towards a modern glass tower next to the Mandarin Oriental hotel. “Some of the apartments cost £50 million or more. And no one lives there—it’s always dark.”

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June 13, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Urban Milwaukee: The Good and Bad of Urbanism

Richard Florida became synonymous with urbanism a decade-and-a-half ago when he wrote a largely upbeat book, “Rise of the Creative Class,” about the renaissance taking place in major cities across the globe.

In his latest literary work, Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto and a global research professor at New York University, has taken a more sobering look at some of the challenges facing urbanism.

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June 13, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Kvartti: The rise of the creative class urban crisis

The US City of developer Richard Florida woke fifteen years ago cities around the world to detect the “creative class” in terms of the opportunities provided by economic success. In his latest work pessimistic Florida to declare the message of the new urban crisis that concerns the inner urban segregation. An interesting question is which indicators this crisis can be accessed and find solutions.

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June 13, 2017
Inclusive DC Press

Press Release: ‘Union Market Talks’ Event Brings Together City And Business Leaders, Renowned Journalists And Celebrated Author To Explore Inclusive Prosperity And ‘The New Urban Crisis’

EDENS partnered with the Urban Land Institute, the Economic Innovation Group and CityLab to bring together nearly four hundred D.C. thought leaders and community advocates. “Discussing inclusive prosperity in an open forum helps us come together and appreciate our communities’ rich diversity,” EDENS CEO Jodie W. McLean said. “EDENS’ purpose has always been about enriching community, and engaging with community leaders, urbanists, neighborhood activists and businesses. It is essential in DC and throughout the country that we all work together to create opportunities for all.”

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June 6, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

WURD Radio: (Video)Information Is The Best Medicine 5.27.17 – Dr. Richard Florida

Dr. Richard Florida, author of ”The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It”, and University Professor and Director of Cities at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto joined the program to discuss the correlation between gentrification and health inequities.

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June 6, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

WAMC: (Video)How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, And Failing The Middle Class

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.

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June 6, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Urban Milwaukee: Professor, author Florida goes ‘On the Issues’ to discuss challenges facing cities

In 2002, Florida’s best-selling book, “The Rise of the Creative Class,” focused on a demographic shift happening around the world — an urban revival sparked by young, creative, tech-savvy professionals. Now, 15 years later, Florida has written a far more sobering book, “The New Urban Crisis.” It explores a darker side of the urban renaissance, something he calls “winner-take-all urbanism.” Florida sees deepening inequality in our cities, growing segregation and poverty, and the disappearance of the middle class. Florida will discuss his new book, the dimensions of the challenge facing not only cities but suburbs, and what can be done about it.

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June 2, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

The Unassuming Economist:The Quest for Inclusive Cities

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody”—this is a quote that appears before the introduction section of Richard Florida’s new book. Florida is concerned that cities are failing from been inclusive. The benefits of cities are not reaching everyone.

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June 2, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

PBS News Hour: Is the ‘creative class’ saving our cities, or making them impossible to live in?

Richard Florida may be the most widely read author on the subject of cities these days, and probably has been since the turn of the millennium. He first became known for cheerleading the idea that if cities attracted what he called “the creative class” — professionals in the arts, in the media, in tech — they would prosper. And so they did — with a vengeance.

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June 2, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Montecristo Magazine: Richard Florida – How to Thrive

Richard Florida admits that his career trajectory as an urban theorist owes as much to luck as it does to smarts. The author of the best-selling and widely influential The Rise of the Creative Class says, “I’d actually published three books beforehand, but nobody talks about those. My publisher thought that this ‘creative class’ idea might catch on in some way, and as it turns out, newspaper and magazine editors thought so, too.”

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May 25, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Washington Post: How blighted urban areas transform into trendy, gentrified communities

For more than a decade, the transformation of blighted urban areas into glistening global beacons for trendy coffee shops and well-heeled whites has commanded national headlines. Rarely do the articles reveal the behind-the-scenes machinations that result in the systematic displacement of tens of thousands of often black and brown poor, working- and middle-class people who vanish, seemingly overnight, followed by their churches, cultural institutions, beauty salons and other haunts.

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May 21, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Richard Florida on TVO – Cities in Crisis (video)

Sky-high housing prices. Rising inequality. Segregation. Gentrification. The back-to-the-city movement that has revitalized urban areas and driven growth also has a dark side, according to Richard Florida. He joins The Agenda to discuss his book, “The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class – and What We Can Do About It.

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May 18, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Business Insider: (video) How to choose the best place to live for your career

Richard Florida is the author of “The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It.” Here, the urbanist explains how to choose the best place to live for your career. Whether you’re fresh out of college or you’ve just had your first child, Florida has an idea of where you should be looking to live. Following is a transcript of the video.

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May 12, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Value Walk: How Our Reignited Love Affair With Cities Created An Urban Crisis

(Audio Link : http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida/multimedia_showcase#wharton_ Americans seem to be curbing their love affair with the suburbs as millennials move to major metropolitan areas for the excitement and amenities of city living. But this shift is creating challenges of its own — increasingly unaffordable housing, rising inequality and strains on aging infrastructure, among other consequences. Author Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto, calls it The New Urban Crisis, which is also the title of his book. He discussed his findings on the Knowledge@Wharton show, which airs on SiriusXM channel 111.

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May 12, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Knowledge@Wharton: (Audio) How Our Reignited Love Affair with Cities Created an Urban Crisis

Americans seem to be curbing their love affair with the suburbs as millennials move to major metropolitan areas for the excitement and amenities of city living. But this shift is creating challenges of its own — increasingly unaffordable housing, rising inequality and strains on aging infrastructure, among other consequences. Author Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto, calls it The New Urban Crisis, which is also the title of his book. He discussed his findings on the Knowledge@Wharton show, which airs on SiriusXM channel 111.

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May 12, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Calgary Herald: White: Richard Florida could take a page from Calgary’s urban songbook

When Richard Florida, the 21st century urban studies guru, speaks, lots of people listen. Ears really perked up when Florida admitted, “I got it wrong that the creative class could magically restore our cities, become a new middle class like my father’s and were going to live happily forever after. I could not have anticipated among all this urban growth and revival there was a dark side to the urban creative revolution, a very deep dark side.” (Houston Chronicle, Oct 24, 2016).

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May 11, 2017
Rise of the Creative Class Revisted News Articles

Study Breaks: THE RISE AND UNCERTAINTY OF THE CREATIVE CLASS

HomeCulture
The Rise and Uncertainty of the Creative Class
THE RISE AND UNCERTAINTY OF THE CREATIVE CLASS
DEVIN ROSS, MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITYFEBRUARY 15, 2017
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The Next Industrial Revolution

In an increasingly mechanized world, creativity has become the new capital. But, according to social scientists, the economy may not yet be ready for the coming paradigm shift.
By Devin Ross, Middle Tennessee State University

In every industry, technology has revolutionized the way we do business.

It has not only fundamentally changed the way products are made, sold and distributed, but also how companies compete, how they are managed and how they interact with their customers. Perhaps the industries most affected by these changes are those engaged in creating content, or “the creative industries.” These include all industries related to fields such as advertising, architecture, design, fashion, film music, publishing, television and I.T.

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May 11, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Artsy: Richard Florida on Why the Most Creative Cities Are the Most Unequal

Richard Florida is famous for popularizing the theory that creativity helps spur urban development: Artists and other bohemian types make places fun and attractive, and knowledge workers cluster in open-minded, tolerant communities with culture and the amenities that generally come with it. These advantages can compound over time, creating super-cities like New York, London, and Los Angeles, where rents are high but productivity and incomes are even higher.

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May 11, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Vox: The author of Rise of the Creative Class is grappling with its dark side

No one has done more to promote the return of educated professionals to cities than Richard Florida. In his 2002 classic The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida argued that “creative class” professionals like engineers, artists, architects, and college professors held the key to revitalizing America’s cities. He encouraged cities to cater to the tastes of these creative professionals by developing walkable urban neighborhoods well-served by transit and with ample amenities.

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May 9, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

The Wall Street Journal: Gentrification and Its Discontents

In today’s San Francisco there is hardly any room for the middle class. Soon-to-be tech millionaires leave the city each morning on the Google Bus, headed to company headquarters in Silicon Valley, while the homeless and the permanently poor watch them pass. The Bay Area is home to more than 71 billionaires (second in the world only to the New York metro area) while about 14,000

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May 5, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

National Post: The important lessons: Why NIMBYism and rent-seeking behaviour poses a special challenge to cities

“Today’s urban rentiers have more to gain from increasing the scarcity of usable land than from maximizing its productive and economically beneficial uses,” writes Florida, also noting that over a 50-year period, over half of New York City’s economic output was consumed by artificially high housing costs, to the benefit of what Adam Smith might have called “indolent” landlords (themselves often corporations, REITs and other wealth funds).

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May 5, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

BizWest: Coming to grips with Boulder’s existential opportunity

There has been a buzz in the past few weeks regarding a new book by the urban-studies theorist Richard Florida, the “New Urban Crisis.” Remember, Mr. Florida? He’s the one who extolled places such as Boston and Austin as the hope for America’s economy. In his previous seminal work, “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Florida had this to say about Boulder: “Boulder has reached this beautiful sweet spot, where it has many advantages of a university town — tech and talent and openness — but without many of the costs and traffic and congestion that may disadvantage incumbent centers of innovation.”

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May 5, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Forbes: The Evolution Of The Creative Class

When I was in college and first became politically aware, so to speak, was in the ’80s when Ronald Reagan was president. Many people from that era remember that perhaps the principal economic theory driving his election in 1980 was the theory of supply side economcs, or that lower barriers on

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May 5, 2017
Events

Huffington Post: Creating Solutions to the New Urban Crisis

Decades ago, one of the biggest challenges facing cities was the loss of residents brought on by the devastating effects of deindustrialization. As urban residents began flocking to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s, cities were confronted with rising levels of poverty, crime, and housing decay. While many of these issues still linger, our modern urban crisis is more extensive and encompassing than its predecessor. As cities continue to benefit from the return of wealthy, talented residents, they now face a number of challenges borne out of their very success. Where cities once benefited from sturdy middle-class neighborhoods, today’s urban areas are up against a disappearing middle class, as well as rampant gentrification and economic and racial segregation.

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May 3, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

National Post: The important lessons: The double-edged sword of superstar cities, like Toronto, New York and London

Lesson #2: Superstar cities

Toronto is tied with Stockholm for 10th on the list of superstar cities compiled by the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, where Florida is Director of Cities (New York, London and Tokyo are the top three). These cities benefit from the clustering effect of individual talent, firms and industries (especially tech).

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May 3, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Curbed: Richard Florida’s ‘The New Urban Crisis’ looks at where cities went wrong

When Richard Florida coined the term “creative class” in 2002, he painted a very clear picture for urban revitalization. His book The Rise Of The Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community And Everyday Life, almost reads like a textbook for mayors. All cities had to do was lure a few artists into live-work lofts in an old warehouse district, maybe convince a startup—they weren’t even called startups then, were they?—to set up shop in a post-industrial neighborhood. Voila! Florida’s prescription for city success.

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May 3, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Smithsonian Magazine: Does Creativity Breed Inequality in Cities?

In 2002, Richard Florida became America’s best known urbanist with the publication of his book, The Rise of the Creative Class. In it, Florida posited that the “creative class,” a group which included artists, scientists and engineers, as well as educated knowledge sector professionals such as lawyers and finance workers, was the main driver of cultural and economic flourishing in America’s cities. The theory was enticing to many urban planners and municipal politicians, and cities across the country aimed to follow Florida’s advice on becoming “creative cities.”

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May 3, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Miami Herald: Fifteen years ago he helped propel the U.S. urban revival. Now he’s plumbing its dark side.

It’s been 15 consequential years since urban evangelist Richard Florida first helped popularize and propel the U.S. urban renaissance with his gospel of the creative class. It held that the tech-consumed, enterprising hip young people flocking back to cities were the nation’s new economic driver, and that luring more of them to every burgh was the key to broad prosperity.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/in-depth/article147246494.html#storylink=cpy

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May 3, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

KPCC: He predicted the revitalization of urban centers like Downtown LA, but Richard Florida now sees the ills

Urban theorist Richard Florida’s 2002 book, “The Rise of the Creative Class” has been both prescient and prescriptive for many city centers in America.

Florida’s book predicted that a class of young, educated millennials who are employed in mostly creative fields would flood deserted urban cores looking for inexpensive housing, thereby changing the fortunes of these neighborhoods.

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April 27, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Wired: Tech Made Cities Too Expensive. Here’s How to Fix It

IN 2013 PROTESTS broke out in Oakland, California, directed against the private buses that shuttle tech workers from pricey homes in the city’s gentrifying areas to jobs in Silicon Valley. “You live your comfortable lives,” read a flyer that protesters handed out to passengers, “surrounded by poverty, homelessness, and death, seemingly oblivious to everything around you, lost in the big bucks and success.”

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April 26, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Detroit Free Press: Author Richard Florida now says ‘creative class’ not enough for cities

Back in 2002, urban theorist Richard Florida set the agenda for numerous cities with his book “The Rise of the Creative Class.”

The book made the case that educated millennials in fields such as software design, technology, art and education were the future of cities. They would enhance prosperity and bring the middle class back into urban cores in districts such as Detroit’s Midtown and downtown.

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April 25, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Urban Toronto: Richard Florida: Toronto Coming of Age Amidst New Urban Crisis

In 2017, the cacophony of Toronto’s urban discourse—and urban realities—makes understanding the city a daunting prospect. The skyrocketing rents, record waitlists for affordable housing, growing economic disparities, and inadequate transit, are being met with staggering development and densification, growing economic status, and a waxing global cachet that’s rivalled by few cities. Our city leads the world in livability and human development indices, while simultaneously facing an affordability crisis that threatens to make good urban housing the sole purview of the rich.

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April 21, 2017
Rana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida Columns

Knight Foundation: HOW THE CREATIVE CLASS GROUP AND FIU’S COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION, ARCHITECTURE + THE ARTS WILL WORK TO IMPROVE MIAMI’S URBAN FUTURE AT MANA WYNWOOD

Miami has been on a roll. It is attracting people at a rapid clip, it is a center of arts, culture and design, and its entrepreneurial ecosystem is growing. Today the region is at a critical inflection point. How can it grow further? How can it deepen its startup ecology? How can it ensure that its growth is inclusive, and that all Miamians can share in a new era of more inclusive prosperity?

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April 19, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Plan Philly: A New Urban Future with Richard Florida

Richard Florida is feeling reflective. He became the equivalent of an urban planning rock star with the publication of his book The Rise of the Creative Class 15 years ago. In the intervening years, the book’s thesis—attract young creative professionals and your city will flourish—seems to have proven both portentous and problematic.

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April 18, 2017
Opinion EditorialsThe New Urban Crisis Press

Los Angeles Times: L.A. and New York are expensive, but they’re not about to become creative deserts

“If the 1 percent stifles New York’s creative talent, I’m out of here,” musician David Byrne threatened several years ago. New York City’s incredible economic success, he wrote, would be its cultural undoing. “Most of Manhattan and many parts of Brooklyn are virtual walled communities, pleasure domes for the rich,” he continued. “Middle-class people can barely afford to live here anymore, so forget about emerging artists, musicians, actors, dancers, writers, journalists and small business people. Bit by bit, the resources that keep the city vibrant are being eliminated.”

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April 17, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Toronto Life: Q&A: Urbanist Richard Florida, on rising home prices and Donald Trump

With Jane Jacobs gone, there aren’t too many celebrity urban-studies theorists left in the world—but Richard Florida is one. From his perch at the University of Toronto, where he has run the Martin Prosperity Institute since moving to Canada from the U.S. in 2007, he has promulgated his theories about the way so-called “creative class” workers (high-earning types whose jobs require them to be inventive, or to draw on deep reserves of knowledge) drive prosperity in the urban areas they populate.

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April 13, 2017
Opinion EditorialsThe New Urban Crisis Press

NY Daily News: The new urban crisis is upon us: Success squeezing out the middle class

I was born in Newark in 1957, and witnessed the riots that tipped that city into its long-running decline. As a college student in the 1970s, when New York City was still teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, I observed the first tender shoots of revival that were visible in SoHo, Tribeca and other parts of lower Manhattan, as artists began to colonize its abandoned industrial spaces.

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April 11, 2017
The New Urban Crisis Press

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: ‘The New Urban Crisis’: Richard Florida updates his influential thesis

Richard Florida has extended his series that began with publication of “The Rise of the Creative Class” in 2002. Pittsburgh is far from unfamiliar with the author. Some may be shocked to realize it has been 12 years since the former Carnegie Mellon University professor departed. He is currently based at the University of Toronto. He has repeatedly referenced his home for two decades, and Pittsburgh continues to impact Mr. Florida’s views on all things city.

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April 11, 2017
Rana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: Work

The Huffington Post : Trump’s Muslim Ban is Bad For Business

Trump’s “Muslim Ban” (Executive Order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”) has set in motion will be an unqualified disaster for American business and the economy. In his first press conference after the election, Trump modestly declared that he would be “the greatest job producer God has ever created.” Between the trade war that he is igniting with Mexico and China and his immigrant ban, he is setting the stage for an economic catastrophe that will make what happened in 2008 look like a hiccup.

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February 1, 2017
CanadaCitiesEconomyEvents

Urban Toronto : Dark Age Ahead: Understanding Jane Jacobs in the Trump Era

A group of prominent Toronto scholars analyzed Jacobs’ ongoing impact a century after her birth. Hosted by the University of Toronto’s Innis College, the panel featured U of T’s Erica Allen Kim, Paul Hess, Michael Piper, Patricia O’Campo, and Richard Florida. Moderated by Urban Studies Chair Shauna Brail, the discussion looked at Jacobs’ contributions—and their limitations in the 21st century context—from a multidisciplinary and intersectional range of of perspectives.

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November 17, 2016
Events

Business Wire : Influential Thought Leader Richard Florida to Keynote Ann Arbor SPARK Annual Meeting

Ann Arbor SPARK will host Richard Florida, one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation, as the keynote speaker at its annual meeting. Ann Arbor SPARK’s annual meeting, the region’s premier gathering of business and community leaders, will be held on April 24, 2017, at the Eastern Michigan University Student Center in Ypsilanti, Mich.

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November 17, 2016
CitiesCreative ClassEvents

National Real Estate Investor : Six Things You Should Know About Future City Development

Urban life has changed quite a lot since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008. The new “creative class,” comprising technology workers, scientists, architects, artists and writers, has been migrating from the suburbs to “superstar cities” including San Francisco, Boston and New York, according to Richard Florida, global research professor at the New York University School of Professional Studies. Florida headlined the Urban Lab panel organized by the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate on Oct. 13.

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October 14, 2016
CanadaEvents

North Shore News : Closing the wage gap key to community, urbanist says

Creating a livable community and closing the gap between the “elite creative class” and the “sinking service class” were key themes presented by internationally recognized urbanist Richard Florida. Florida’s presentation wrapped up a speaker series that brought three distinguished urbanists to West Vancouver as part of the Cypress Village planning process. The event was sponsored by British Pacific Properties and Hollyburn Family Services Society.

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September 18, 2016
CanadaRichard Florida Columns

Toronto Star : How well is Canada really doing in the Rio Games?

In total medal count, Canada is faring fairly well. But by other, more meaningful measures not so much.With the help of colleagues at the University of Toronto Martin Prosperity Institute Charlotta Mellander and Patrick Adler, Richard Florida ranked each nation’s overall medal performance by their population, size of their economy, and the number of athletes on their Olympic teams.

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August 16, 2016
Files / Working Papers

MPI : The Geography of the Global Super-Rich

Recent years have seen increasing apprehension over rising inequality and the growth of the so-called “1 percent.” For all the concern
expressed about the rise of the global super-rich, there is very little
empirical research related to them, especially regarding their location across the cities and metro areas. Our research uses detailed data from
Forbes on the more than 1,800 billionaires across the globe to
examine the location of the super-rich across the world’s cities and
metro areas.

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August 9, 2016
Profiles and Interviews

The Place Brand Observer : Interview: Richard Florida on Creative Cities and Economic Development

City brands and the making, management and communication of a city’s strongest assets in the eyes of potential residents, visitors, investors and students, has been a key occupation of economic development professionals all over the world. In this interview, Richard Florida explains why the Creative Classes are so important in achieving city strength and a competitive position.

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August 2, 2016
CCG Reports PressEvents

Morning Post Exchange : Miami is on the Rise

Miami and Miami Beach, once a refuge for retirees and those looking for fun and sun is on the rise as a great economic powerhouse, according to a new report from Florida International University and the Creative Class Group, “Miami’s Great Inflection: Toward Shared Prosperity as a Creative and Inclusive Global City.”

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June 20, 2016
Events

Urban Land Institute Magazine : The Ongoing Challenge of Attracting and Retaining Creative Class

Noted urbanist and author Richard Florida opened the recent 2016 ULI Florida Summit in Miami by reminding the audience that the creative class and the industries in which it works are the single most important economic drivers in the 21st-century economy. Economic development at the local and state levels can no longer be about enticing companies through special tax breaks or incentives, but about being irresistible to creative, talented people and building neighborhoods where they can simultaneously live, work, dine, drink, play, and experience a high level of interaction with each other. The creative types will be the ones to lure the companies in—or, better yet, start companies of their own, in Florida’s view.

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June 20, 2016
Opinion Editorials

Miami Herald : Initiative aims to make Greater Miami an even greater city

Opinion Editorial by FIU President Mark Rosenberg and CCG Founder, Richard Florida. To get a clearer understanding of the Miami region’s opportunities and challenges, Florida International University and the Creative Class Group launched the FIU-Miami Creative City Initiative. The first major report of that project, released today, enumerates the region’s challenges and opportunities, while identifying several key areas that will help ensure a broader shared prosperity for Greater Miami.

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June 16, 2016
Profiles and Interviews

The University of Toronto : Honouring our 2016 Universtiy Professors

Richard Florida named University Professor. The University of Toronto owes much of its reputation and stature to the quality of its eminent professors. The University recognizes unusual scholarly achievement and pre-eminence in a particular field of knowledge through the designation of University Professor. The number of such appointments does not generally exceed two per cent of the tenured faculty. Its very exclusivity stands to underline the highly prestigious nature of the University Professor designation.

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June 7, 2016
Creative ClassEventsInternational publicationsProfiles and Interviews

Indus (Russian) Abstract : The talent, technology and tolerance as the main factor of economic development

On the first day of the educational project Made In Kazan the listeners expert classes made Richard Florida – economist, urbanist, author of the theory of the creative class, the professor of the School of Management named Joseph Rothman at the University of Toronto. “Indus” publishes a summary of his lectures.

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June 3, 2016
EventsInternational publications

Realnoe Vremya : UCLG in Kazan: absence of a Turkish guest, creative economy and gratitude for Tatar hospitality

Kazan became the first Russian city to host a meeting of the exotic at present UCLG Executive Bureau. A correspondent of Realnoe Vremya visited the official opening of the meeting and found out what impressed foreign guests most of all in Kazan, why the already ‘powerful’ organization requires to strengthen its influence on the world stage and why cities are that important places for a successful development of the world economy.

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May 31, 2016
Rana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: City

The Huffington Post : City Talk with Catie Marron

A former investment banker, the chairman of the board of directors of Friends of the High Line, a trustee of the New York Public Library, the editor of the acclaimed book City Parks: Public Places, Private Thoughts, and a contributing editor to Vogue, Catie Marron has just added a new book to her very crowded list of accomplishments: City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World.

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May 23, 2016
CitiesProfiles and Interviews

The Mayors Project : An Interview with Richard Florida on City Leadership: “It’s the most important challenge facing our world today.”

Richard Florida interview on the important role mayors play in building prosperous cities. He argued that the role of the mayor is critically misunderstood and underdeveloped, and that increasing the capacity of Canada’s local leaders is one of the most important social, political and economic imperatives of our time.

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May 23, 2016
Opinion Editorials

PENN Institute for Urban Research : Expert Voices 2016: Urban Policy and the Presidential Election

With all eyes focused on the presidential race, now is the time to discuss the great challenges that our nation faces. The candidates have a unique opportunity to address the issues that affect the lives of their fellow Americans, but what are those issues and how should they think about them? What major urban policy issues should the candidates address? They posed this question to our Penn IUR Faculty Fellows and Scholars.

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March 16, 2016
CitiesEconomyEntrepreneurshipTalent, Technology and Tolerance

Forbes : How Emerging Entrepreneurial Hubs Are Becoming America’s New Boomtowns

Richard Florida, the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto and a professor of global research at New York University, writes in “The Rise of Global Startup Cities,” that while venture capital has “gone global” by spreading to places like China and India, the dominant centers remain US cities that combine density, great universities, and an open-minded culture to attract the best talent.

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February 8, 2016
Opinion EditorialsRichard Florida Columns

The Boston Globe : Congress could ensure tax money is put to better use

Perhaps it’s finally time for Congress to step in and stop the incentive arms race among states by invoking its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce. In the meantime, GE could always do the right thing and give taxpayers back their money. For a company that wants to be seen as both cutting edge and a good corporate citizen, such a move would set an important precedent.

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January 31, 2016
EventsRana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: City

The Huffington Post : Challenges to the Creative City (VIDEO)

Thousands of people descended on Miami during the first week of December, 2015, to experience Art Basel Miami. On Thursday, December 3, hundreds attended a packed discussion on creativity and city building at the FIU Miami Beach Urban Studios. The global forum, CREATE: Miami, was hosted by Florida International University and Visiting Scholar and urbanist Richard Florida, and it brought together a veritable constellation of luminaries in art, architecture, design, fashion, and music.

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December 14, 2015
Files / Working Papers

Martin Prosperity Institute : Startup City Canada : The Geography of Venture Capital and Startup Activity in Canada

Startup City Canada examines venture capital activity in Canada, identifying its leading cities and metros and mapping its urban orientation in the county’s three largest venture capital hubs: Toronto, Vancouver,and Montréal. This report is part of a larger, ongoing research project tracking the urban geography of venture capital and start-up activity.

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November 19, 2015
CanadaEventsUrban

Urban Toronto : Richard Florida Diagnoses A New Urban Crisis at ULI Symposium

Taking the stage to deliver a keynote address at the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) inaugural Toronto Symposium, renowned urbanist Richard Florida wasted no time in proclaiming his admiration for Toronto, celebrating his adopted city as a global leader in urban renewal and the arresting of urban sprawl. Yet, for all of Florida’s enthusiasm about Toronto, the speech diagnosed a cresting urban crisis, proving to be an alarming call to action rather than a celebration of the city’s accomplishments.

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November 5, 2015
Files / Working Papers

The Global Creativity Index 2015

This report presents the 2015 edition of the Global Creativity Index,
or GCI. The GCI is a broad-based measure for advanced economic
growth and sustainable prosperity based on the 3Ts of economic development
talent, technology, and tolerance. It rates and ranks 139 nations worldwide on each of these dimensions and on our overall measure of creativity and prosperity.

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October 15, 2015
Rana Florida - In the NewsRana Florida Upgrade Features, Reviews and News

The Collative Pro Blog : Book Review – Upgrade by Rana Florida

This week we are bringing you something different, and that is a book review. Here at Collative Pro, reading is something that we do every day and we want to share some reviews on the books we read. Hopefully they can be as helpful to you as they have been to us. So lets kick off with the first book review – Upgrade: Taking Your Work and Life from Ordinary to Extraordinary By Rana Florida.

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October 12, 2015
CanadaRichard Florida Columns

Toronto Life : The Best (And Worst) Places to Live

A ranking of Toronto’s 140 neighborhoods—a definitive document that separates the great from the good, the average from the awful. We teamed up with the urbanists, economists, sociologists and information scientists at the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank at U of T’s Rotman School of Management. They crunched every stat they could drum up: census data, community health profiles, the Fraser Institute’s school report cards, the Toronto Police Service crime figures and independent studies.

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September 29, 2015
CanadaOpinion EditorialsRichard Florida ColumnsTalent, Technology and Tolerance

The Globe and Mail : Still lacking technology and talent, Canada’s tolerance offers creative edge

Canada ranks fourth in the world in a new ranking of the world’s most creative and economically competitive countries. The survey, put together by my research team at the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, places Canada behind only first-place Australia, the United States and New Zealand. This is the third version of these rankings we’ve done, and Canada is up from its seventh-place finish in 2011.

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August 5, 2015
Files / Working PapersUrban

NYU Furman Center : We Need a New National Urban Policy

Beyond the interventions that Sampson describes, we need an urban policy that is attuned to this new reality—and that can help to change it. What we need is a new growth model that is as ambitious and as far-reaching as our post-World War II commitment was to creating a middle class. We need to re-knit the safety net and ensure that everyone has access to good, family-supporting jobs that are the equivalents of my father’s factory job.

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July 16, 2015
CreativityProfiles and Interviews

Deloitte Magazine : Creativity for the new economy

For professor and journalist Richard Florida, the most restless people in the planet are building a new world. In
this new world, excessive consumption and unrestrained use of natural resources are replaced by continual
innovation. In this exclusive interview to Mundo Corporativo, he explains why creativity, innovation, and human development are crucial to keep thriving in the economy of the future.

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June 22, 2015
CREATE: DetroitRana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: City

The Huffington Post : Lessons From Other Cities at Detroit’s Global City Forum

What lessons can we learn from Detroit’s and other cities’ struggles to remake themselves? That is the question that will be at the heart of CREATE: Detroit, the first of what will become an annual ideas fest. Hosted by the renowned urbanist Richard Florida and the Creative Class Group in partnership with Rock Ventures, Shinola, M1/DTW, and Planterra, the program will bring together city builders, city leaders, place makers and urbanists from across North America to share their insights and best practices for building and rebuilding more creative and inclusive cities.

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June 10, 2015
CREATE: Detroit

Crain’s : City builders to gather for Create: Detroit ideas festival

Leading city builders and urbanists from around the world will gather in Detroit later this month to share ideas and best practices for how to build creative, inclusive cities. Create: Detroit, hosted by urban studies theorist Richard Florida, the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, as well as Creative Class Group and presenting sponsor Detroit-based Rock Ventures LLC, is billed as an ideas festival.

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June 10, 2015
CitiesCreative ClassCreativityProfiles and Interviews

Uniplan : Read : Richard Florida: The Creative City

In 2002, the American economist and sociologist Richard Florida published the book “The Rise of the Creative Class”, which became a bestseller. Florida made a close connection between the future development of cities and the development of the “creative class”: Cities will flourish if they are able to attract these rising stars of the 21st century and persuade them to be long-term residents.

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June 8, 2015
CREATE: Detroit

CREATE: Detroit Press Release

Rock Ventures and Creative Class Group Partner to Bring CREATE: Detroit to Motown. As the city is rising and reurbanizing, Detroit will host the inaugural CREATE:Detroit, an ideas festival featuring leading city builders and urbanists from across the globe,to share best practices and ideas for how to build creative and more inclusive cities, on Tuesday, June 30 from 2:00-6:30 p.m. at the College for Creative Studies.

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May 26, 2015
CREATE: DetroitRana Florida ColumnsRana Florida Columns: City

The Huffington Post : A World-Class Global City-Building Forum: The First-Ever in Detroit

At the first annual Create: Detroit, by the Creative Class Group and sponsored by Rock Ventures, he will moderate panels with city-leaders, city-builders, place-makers, urbanists, and urban journalists from across North America, who will share what they’ve learned from their own ventures and observations in Miami, San Francisco, Toronto, New York, Las Vegas, and of course Detroit.

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May 20, 2015
EuropeInternational publications

Halpern : Hotlist April 2015

This month’s Hotlist introduction comes from Richard Florida, international bestselling author, professor and urbanist who amongst many other pursuits founded the Creative Class Group. He is an all-round global think tank genius.”
Jenny Halpern Prince

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April 2, 2015