Social and economic theorist Richard Florida was in town recently to talk about the Creative Class and what it means to cities like Omaha.  On February 3^rd, he spoke to about 800 at the Qwest Center Omaha and to faculty, students and business leaders at a special presentation at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Florida is currently the Hirst Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.  His book, The Rise of the Creative Class, outlines a new way to think about why we live as we do today.  The work traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity in our economy.

Florida ranks Omaha’s strong technology base and the talent produced by area colleges 11^th among midsize cities in his latest research.

His findings also uncovered that the quality of place and openness to freedom and self expression emerged as leading factors as young professionals decide where to take their talents.

In Florida’s book he says, “The quality of place that a city offers can be summed up by an interrelated set of experiences.  Many of them, like the street-level scene, are dynamic and participatory.  You can do more than be a spectator; you can be part of the scene.”

Omaha by Design is working to make Omaha the kind of place that Richard Florida describes, to make better street level experiences with improvements to streets and parks, more public art and Place Games that use grassroots input to make Omaha more connected, smart, significant, sparkling and fun for all.

You can watch a video of Florida’s talk at UNO by clicking this link: 

http://www.nebraska.edu/florida.aspx

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