Richard Florida's Disclosure List

Richard Florida’s academic clients like to call Creative Class a “think tank.” But his company, Creative Class, actually calls itself a “global advisory services firm,” which is correct. Apart from the corporate clients — Goldman Sachs, Citi Group, IBM — for whom they advise on how to reach the “creative class,” there’s work geared to developers and real estate folks, corporate services and “talent management.” And then there’s his other clients: cities and city-states, and their business-development corporations.

Now Florida is the “anchor” for the Atlantic’s handsome new Atlantic Cities site, (as well as a senior editor for the Atlantic). So the publication — which looks good! Love that Atlantic! — doesn’t have to bother with lengthy fine print, here’s a disclosure list of “cities for whom Richard Florida has consulted,” so that you can feel more informed about his editorial choices.

• Ontario
• Seattle
• San Diego
• Atlanta
• Austin
• Cape Town
• Tampa Bay
• El Paso
• Dublin
• Memphis
• Anaheim
• Long Beach
• Miami-Dade
• Savannah
• Brisbane
• Fort Worth
• Barcelona
•Also Las Vegas engineered the sale of its City Hall to Zappos (a subsidiary of Amazon) thanks to Richard Florida. (“And so we’ve actually partnered with this guy named Richard Florida,” said the chief of Zappos, in June, “… basically, we’re taking the research from that and research from other places to basically help rebuild a city from scratch and build a real sense of community and a real sense of culture in probably a place that’s, you know, at least brand-wise, is the antithesis of all that.”)

Well, and many many more! But yes. Disclosures are important! They help in case the FTC gets all itchy because a consultant who gets paid by these entities now devotes his time to a publication that covers these cities.