Denver is a perfect example of how the post-Great Recession economy works through an “urban revolution” that brings creative people close together, taking advantage of economies of scale, bestselling author Richard Florida recently said at the Rocky Mountain City Summit in Denver.
“For a place to harness creativity, it must be open to the creativity of all. Not just techies or the creative class, but everyone,” argues Richard Florida. For the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, openness is a key factor in a city’s economic growth.
Richard Florida recently spoke for the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.
Technology, talent and tolerance are essential to fostering creative cultures. When we talk about the creative class, we aren’t talking about some rarified, exclusive group of people. Every human is creative. Creative cultures stoke that fire.
Richard Florida speaks for the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties in Utica, NY.
Talent. Technology. Talent. Those are the “three T’s” that Richard Florida, an internationally known urban theorist, says will vault a community toward positive change. Local leaders believe Utica already possesses those T’s, but they need a catalyst.
Viewed by many as the world’s leading urban theorist, Richard Florida was in Ireland this summer, and told Ann O’Dea that tolerance was a key ingredient in any creative economy.
Today’s highly mobile knowledge workers–the key to economic growth in a global economy where the talent and skills of the workforce is a prime difference-maker–choose where to live more for the qualities communities offer than for specific job-related reasons.
The May 3 Denver South Economic Development Partnership luncheon drew Gov. John Hickenlooper to introduce the speaker and attracted an enthusiastic, capacity crowd to the DTC Hyatt Regency ballroom. The governor came to provide the Colorado context for the event’s featured speaker, Dr. Richard Florida.
For the past year, Richard Florida and his Creative Class Group have partnered with UT Arlington to examine the region’s assets and challenges. The effort engaged representatives from the School of Architecture, the College of Education and Health Professions, and the School of Urban and Public Affairs, with input from major chambers of commerce, local elected officials, Vision North Texas, the North Texas Commission, and civic groups.
In Richard Florida’s new book The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited, he’s compiled a list of the top tech cities in the U.S.Seattle, home to Microsoft and Amazon, claims the top place from Silicon Valley, which ranked first in his last book. Silicon Valley, which consists of the San Jose metro area, ranks second followed by the greater San Francisco area. Portland, Oregon claims the fourth spot followed by Austin.
