The Livable City

Richard Florida

Author & Professor

Richard Florida is a researcher and professor, serving as University Professor at University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management, and a Distinguished Fellow at NYU’s Schack School of Real Estate. He is a writer and journalist, having penned several global best sellers, including the award winning The Rise of the Creative Class and his most recent book, The New Urban Crisis. He is co-founder of CityLab, the leading publication devoted to cities and urbanism.

Steven Pedigo

Professor of Practice, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas

Steven is a professor of practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and the director of the LBJ Urban Lab. He is also director of research and advising for the Creative Class Group and VP, Economic Development, at Resonance Consultancy.

Adam Ducker

Chief Executive Officer, RCLCO

Adam Ducker is Chief Executive Officer of RCLCO and oversees the firm’s Real Estate Economics and Management Consulting Practices. Adam joined RCLCO in the mid-1990s as an associate directly after graduate school and learned the trade with the firm. He is a recognized expert in strategic planning for real estate companies, investment analysis, market and financial analysis, and marketing of real estate assets. He has particular depth of expertise in high-density housing, retail/entertainment, and hotel development. Adam is a member of the Executive Committee of RCLCO, which manages shared resources and oversees overall company strategy. He also sits on the board of the RCLCO Foundation.

Jesse Stein

Head of Real Estate for Airbnb

Jesse Stein is Global Head of Real Estate at AirBnb.Prior to joining Airbnb, Jesse was VP of Investmwnt at KHP Capital, a real estate private equity firm focused on investments in boutique and independent hotels. Jesse has deep expertise in sourcing and executing development projects including hotel, timeshare, residential, and fractional assets. Jesse oversees Airbnb’s strategy to create new supply and growth opportunities through real estate development projects and partnerships.

Brad Hargreaves

Founder and Chairman of Common

Brad has repeatedly built successful companies at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds. He is the Founder and Chairman of Common, a leading residential brand and operator that designs, leases, and manages multifamily properties that appeal to today’s renters. Previously, he co-founded General Assembly, a pioneer in education and career transformation specializing in today’s most on-demand skills. He also writes about real estate trends and new operating models at thesisdriven.com.

In addition, Brad sits on the boards of Loftium and Playcrafting and is an advisor to a number of companies including Breef, Stacklist, and Arrange.

Carla Guerrera

CEO & Founder, Purpose Driven Development

Carla Guerrera is a globally recognized real estate and urban development professional. Carla combines the fields of real estate development and urban planning is a respected advisor, business consultant and speaker on topics pertaining to urban design, people, architecture and city policy. Carla has delivered over $1 B of complex, mixed-use real estate development across Canada’s top markets over the past 20 years. She has been awarded the prestigious Urban Land Institutes Top 40 Under 40 Global Land Use Professionals Award, as well as Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 Award.Carla was appointed to the prestigious Thames Estuary Growth Board, UK’s largest growth opportunity focused on the revitalization along the Thames River with a £1.5bn investment and recovery post-Brexit and post-Covid.

Chris Fair

President & CEO, Resonance

A futurist, facilitator and strategist, Chris holds a Masters degree in Studies of the Future and has married his tourism, economic development, real estate and and marketing expertise with futures methodologies to help a wide variety of clients envision and create development strategies, plans and brands that shape the future of places around the world. As President of Resonance Consultancy, Chris leads a team that has completed more than 100 visioning, strategy, planning, and branding projects for developers and destinations in more than 30 destinations.

He has been featured in Fast Company magazine and is a frequent commentator on lifestyle and leisure trends for leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Globe & Mail, Los Angeles Times, The Economist and Worth magazine. In 2013, Chris was recognized as the “Place Branding Thought Leader of the Year” at the World Sense of Place Summit