In this engaging and thought-provoking lecture, public intellectual and best-selling author, Richard
Florida, explains how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy. Drawing from his research in his
popular books The Rise of the Creative Class and, most recently, Who’s Your City? , Florida traces
the rise of this new social class and its impact on cities, business, and society at large. Richard
Florida is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor of Business and Creativity at the
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
All over Europe, cities are faced with the challenge of using cultural resources to re-position their
city in an increasingly culturally and economically diversified European space. Related to this is a
clear recognition of the growing importance of cultural resources for economic and community
development. This produces new opportunities and challenges for local cultural planning and management.
In order to fully exploit the innovative and supportive role of culture in European urban development,
it will be necessary to develop a new socially and culturally sensitive professionalism, able to cross
the boundaries between the arts, design, urban and spatial planning, public policy and the market,
artistic creativity and cultural management.
The MA in European Urban Cultures offers a specialist programme aimed at graduate students from Europe
and elsewhere with undergraduate degrees in subject areas such as the social sciences; cultural and
leisure studies; art, design and architecture; urban theory and planning; cultural marketing and
management. The course is also targeted at professionals and administrators eager for the latest
experiences, ideas and insights in urban cultural policy.
