Results tagged “richardflorida”

Creative Place and Spaces is an occasional conference (it was held once in 2003, once in 2005, and is being held again right now) that brings together an assortment of thinkers to discuss how creativity can help shape and improve our cities. In case you couldn't manage to make it out yourself, we thought we'd give you a bit of a play-by-play.

Because in time for the Canadian edition of his book Who's Your City, the Toronto-based Florida ranked the best places in the country to live for certain demographics: singles (aged 20–29), mid-career professionals (29–44), "empty-nesters" (45–64), and families with children. The ten cities leading the way for "singles"? Calgary, Iqaluit, Ottawa-Gatineau, Victoria, Yellowknife, Edmonton, Guelph, Canmore, Whitehorse, and Montreal. Toronto finds itself at the top of the list for "empty-nesters" and right by the top for "families with children"; According to Florida's rankings, you're seemingly best off living in Calgary after you graduate from university, marrying, moving to Ottawa-Gatineau, having kids there, moving to Toronto when the kids leave for university, and then moving on back to Ottawa-Gatineau once your career ends. Sounds great.

Ryan Bigge—Toronto's least ironically named freelancer and, according to the first issue of Spacing, a former "magaging editor" of Adbusters—last year estimated that Richard Florida pulled in $170 000 a year from U of T. When the 2008 Public Sector Salary Disclosure (Sunshine) list was released, Bigge took the figure of $169,999.98 to mean that his guess was only two cents off. What Bigge failed to take into account, however, was that the 2008 list was actually the disclosure of salaries for 2007, and only included money paid out for that period. In other words, because Florida was only hired away from George Mason University in July '07, the money on the list covered just the half-year he was at U of T.

Flattery will get you pretty far, and in Toronto—perhaps because of our terminal insecurity—it will get you even farther. Richard Florida has built a career on this. Now The Atlantic is hoping to cash in, too.

Most Canadians aren't really aware how President Barack Obama’s $789 billion (at last count) stimulus package might directly benefit this country, but there is at least one area of United States infrastructure improvement that, if approved, could have an enormous impact on the city of Toronto.

Anyone remotely interested in urban or social studies should be fairly captivated by AZURE Magazine's latest hulking tome, a special issue entitled "How To Build A Great City." In it, AZURE explores the staple themes: bike lanes across the world, the value of subway lines versus a city's (or in their case, town's) total monetary intake, and a piece that, as always, showcases how painfully far we are behind the Danes. Make no mistake, these articles aren't a rehash of pop journalism tripe capitalizing on fashionable themes; AZURE's triadic focus has always been "Design, Architecture, Art" and the content of the publication is always refreshing and informative. To wit, columns examining architecture as it relates to its surroundings give hope where we're accustomed to being saddled with the cheapest, most convenient, and worst examples of building conceivable.

It’s often refreshing to hear an outsider’s point of view of your city. Sometimes they offer a new perspective on something so commonplace that you take it for granted. Or they can simply offer the expected platitudes. One writer, Olga Bonfiglio, who visited Toronto for the first time this holiday season, recently offered her take. She painted a very glowing picture of our city "as both a model and an inspiration for cities," and offered the usual outsider praise for our diversity and tolerance; the cleanliness of the streets; the low crime rate; and the "clean, safe, and efficient" transit system.

Selon le chercheur américain Richard Florida, Toronto arrive en première position pour l'importance de son noyau créatif, qui regroupe les emplois liés à la technologie et à la culture. Toronto est suivi de très près par Montréal.