Urban Innovation Quotes

Fifty percent of the world's population lives in cities. In a couple of decades, 70 percent of the world's population will be living in cities. Cities are where the problem is. Cities are where the solution is, where creativity exists to address the challenges and where they have most impact. This is why, in 2005, the C40 was founded, an organization of cities that address climate change. It started with 18 cities; now it's 91. Cities simply are the key to saving the planet.

Los Angeles is the evolutionary edge.

We as mayors have the opportunity to push the envelope and get people thinking, even when it is not politically popular. Cities hold the key.

New York always has a lot of creativity going on.

The most dynamic cities have always been immersed in the critical innovations of their time.

Cities force us to interact with strangers and with the strange. They pry the mind open. And that is why they are the idea that has unleashed so many of our new ideas.

Cities simply don't have the powers they need to radically innovate in cutting obesity or the number of disaffected teenagers.

Let's face it: innovation in the U.S. is now the province of our thriving city-states. We all know that nothing happens in Washington anymore.

Cities are platforms for sharing.

Being from a place like Chicago you have so much pride in it, there's so many great things that come out of there, but to me not enough people from the city shine a spotlight on the good things that go on with us or the fact that we are innovative and set trends.

The future is going to happen in Toronto or Berlin or Bengaluru and not necessarily in the Valley.

New York is full of creative people, not only in fashion.

Two-thirds of all growth takes place in cities because, by simple fact of population density, our urban spaces are perfect innovation labs. The modern metropolis is jam-packed. People are living atop one another; their ideas are as well.

Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon. Decaying cities, declining economies, and mounting social troubles travel together. The combination is not coincidental.

The creative core of New York has never been native New Yorkers; it's people from all over the world.

Many cities end up putting off things because they want to understand everything. They don't understand that innovating is about starting. Taking care of a city is a process that you start, and then give the population space to respond.

What draws us to a city like San Francisco is the same thing that draws entrepreneurs, startups, and freelancers to WeWork: it's the creative atmosphere, the technical sophistication, and the strong sense of community.

When I wrote my book about Amsterdam, the main objective was to talk about the city's creativity rather than just its design.

Cities, too, are embracing digitization. Barcelona has installed in-ground parking sensors and launched connected public transportation as part of its Smart City strategy.

Cities like New York have already followed San Francisco and have started similar organizations like sfCiti; New York has TECH NYC.

The best creative no longer has to originate in Chicago or London; it will be coming from Stockholm, Tokyo, and Seoul as well.