 Economic geographer Richard Florida came to prominence when he popularized the concept of a creative class , or a subset of individuals whose work involves creativity and innovation . Florida 's previous three books , The Rise of the Creative Class ( 2002 ) , Cities and the Creative Class ( 2005 ) , and The Flight of the Creative Class ( 2005 ) , link the creative class with wealth generation and argue that the individuals in the creative class choose to locate in places with strong cultural and recreational activities , as well as an interesting nightlife . Cities that have offered those activities have attracted innovative people , and despite high land and labor costs , businesses have chosen to re @-@ locate to those areas in order to access them . With the success of his creative class theories , Florida founded a consulting firm , called the Creative Class Group , to advise local governments and other organizations about how to attract creative and innovative people . Florida , a professor at Carnegie Mellon University 's Heinz College in Pittsburgh until 2005 , wrote his next book , Who 's Your City ? , after moving to George Mason University 's School of Public Policy . By the time he agreed to move to the University of Toronto he was deemed an " academic pop star " . Upon his arrival , he was personally greeted by the mayor of Toronto and the premier of Ontario . Articles in the National Post and Toronto Star heralded his move , an article appeared in the magazine Style at Home featuring his new house , and he was given a regular column in the Globe & Mail . 
