Press Room
Richard Florida Keynote Address
Florida’s remarks focused on a few key principles from his existing three books (“Rise of the Creative Class,” “Flight of the Creative Class,” and “Cities and the Creative Class”) and offered a fascinating preview of his forthcoming book, “Who’s Your City?”
Principle #1: We are currently experiencing an economic shift on the level of the industrial revolution. Just as the industrial revolution moved modern society from an agricultural economic model to an industrial economic model, we are now moving away from an industrial economy and towards a knowledge-based, technology-driven, creative economy.
Principle #2: Creativity exists naturally in every, single human being and cuts across all demographic categories. Therefore, tolerance of all people, all races, all lifestyles and all cultures is crucial to success in a creative economy.
Principle #3: Place is the most important factor in the emerging creative economy. That is, the place where you choose to live has the greatest influence on an individual’s ability to succeed in a creative economy. “Mega-regions” such as the Boston-New York-Washington, D.C., corridor (“BosWash”) have the ability to attract creative talent and magnify the economic growth of the region by bringing people together into one place. Mega-regions throughout the world account for a majority percentage of global economic activity. The importance of place, how communities can be successful and why mega-regions are so important are topics Florida will expand upon in his new book.
Florida’s remarks were met with appreciative applause and thought-provoking questions from the floor.
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All photos by Kaveh Sardari. These and many other high-resolution images from the National Conference on the Creative Economy may be viewed and purchased from www.sardari.com.
