The Creative Class Group will embark on a variety of initiatives influenced by the creative group they have identified. They will perform research to help Le Méridien identify new development opportunities by applying their exclusive ‘creativity index’, using the Creative Class Group’s one-of-a-kind framework; technology + talent + tolerance and territorial assets. CCG will help to connect Le Méridien hotels to key contacts in each city from the fields of tourism, culture, art, design and cuisine. They will work to acquire influential speakers to participate in “New Perspective Events” at Le Méridien hotels across the globe. CCG  will also curate content for the ‘Hub’ libraries selected based on their research on the core attributes, values and preferences of the Creative Class. The books selected will comprise of a mix of contemporary and foundational books about creative culture in the arts, design, economy and society, as well as localized books reflecting each cities history and characteristics.

Read the full release here.

Photo © Ralph Gibson

My interview yesterday on CNN International’s Urban Planet Series:

Here’s the clip of my recent appearance with Yale University’s Robert Shiller on The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

What do you think makes a city livable? What contributes to a person’s sense of health and well-being? Tune in to the Livable Cities Webcast on Thursday, November 11, 2010, at 11 a.m. EST to find out. During the webcast, Richard Florida and a panel of internationally renowned experts will be debating the latest insights on hot topics of discussion including:

• How government and individuals can keep a city moving and help the people in it to stay healthy.
• How cities’ residents can define their city’s evolution as a brand.
• What role innovation and technology can play in addressing the needs of older people in cities.

Underpinning the debates will be new data from the Philips Health and Well-Being Index which explores more than 30,000 people’s own perceptions of their health and well-being.

Have something to say? You can get involved in the discussions yourself. Submit a question ahead of the November 11 debate here or Tweet your questions and views to @LivableCities.

Click here to listen to the fun segment on today’s show.

As NPR describes it:

Professor Richard Florida, director of the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute, has released his Trick or Treat Index for 2010. It’s a kind of Lonely Planet guide for hobgoblins. He gives us his top-five list of the best U.S. cities for Halloween trick-or-treating.

Here’s the original list, a map, and the list for Canada.

On Sunday, August 29, Richard Florida was interviewed on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS. They discussed The Great Reset and how cities will change as Americans adapt to a world after the recession. Click the image below to watch the interview.

The Philips Livable Cities Award is now accepting entries!

This award is a global initiative designed to encourage individuals, businesses, and community and non-governmental groups to develop practical, achievable ideas for improving the health and well-being of people living in cities – ideas which can then be translated into reality.

The award is being overseen by a supervisory panel of independent experts in three award categories: Well-Being Outdoors; Independent Living; and Healthy Lifestyle at Work and Home. The overall winning idea from any of these three categories and an idea from each of the two remaining categories will receive grants.

Submission deadline is October 28, 2010. Further information on the award criteria and categories plus an entry form can be found here.

Philips have also established a new featured group on LinkedIn – called “Creating Healthy, Livable Cities” – to facilitate an issues-driven discussion among people interested in making cities more healthy and livable places. Join the discussion here.

Here’s some video from my CNBC StreetSigns appearance with Robert Shiller.

My latest columns:

“Why Canada Needs a Great Reset” in Ottawa Citizen.

With the G8 and G20 summits behind us, most Canadians now realize how comparatively unscathed we’ve come through the great economic crisis. But we shouldn’t be too hasty to pat ourselves on the back. Our economy is badly in need of significant structural changes. Without the pressure of a crisis, there’s a real danger that we’ll settle for complacency, instead…

Thanks to Canada’s risk-averse system of financial regulation, its banks are model citizens, admired around the globe; Canada’s housing markets swiftly rebounded and are already booming again. Though Canada’s gross domestic product declined just as precipitously as the U.S.’s did, we got off lightly when it came to unemployment. Some of Canada’s laid-off auto workers are being called back to work at formerly quiet factories from Windsor to Oshawa, and companies from Research in Motion to Loblaw are hiring new workers to support their growth.

Read the full piece here (PDF).

* * *

“The Fourth Place” at The Daily Beast:

Starting July 1, Starbucks is offering free, one-click WiFi to its customers. “We offer many of the comforts you’d find at home,” its announcement proclaims. “So is it any surprise we offer free Internet access, too? It’s just part of being neighborly.” Starbucks aspires to be our home away from home, our next door neighbor, and even a remote office. And why not? It’s clear that we need such places.

It used to be that we knew when we were on and when we were off the clock, even if we didn’t punch in and out at the factory door. Work happened at, well, work. The Internet, cellphones, and BlackBerries—and the widespread adoption of a laid-back work-style that started in Silicon Valley—have changed that forever. Many of us, especially those of us whose most important work product comes out of our heads, no longer wear business attire or even show up at the office every day. Nevertheless, we are on the job 24/7.

Read the full piece here (PDF).

My interview with the New York Post’s Brian Moore.

To Richard Florida, calling today’s economic woes the “Great Recession” doesn’t begin to describe the tectonic forces at work. This is not simply a time when jobs are hard to find, says the urban theorist and best-selling author, who also runs the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s management school. Unlike previous downturns, such as the ones that kicked off the previous three decades, he believes today’s recession is a “great reset” that will fundamentally change the work we do and the way we do it.

“Great resets are mechanisms by which technologies change, productivities improve,” says Florida, whose latest book — titled, yes, “The Great Reset” — describes current and past transformations in American society. “But most important, they’re shifts in the way we live and work.”

Read the full piece here.