Way We Live Next

Author of the bestselling The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City? Richard Florida is a regular columnist for The Atlantic. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and other publications. His multiple awards and accolades include the Harvard Business Review's Breakthrough Idea of the Year. He was named one of Esquire magazine's Best and Brightest (2005) and one of BusinessWeek's Voices of Innovation (2006). He lives in Toronto, Canada.Vladislav Boutenko is Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where he leads the global cities and regions component of the firm's Travel, Cities & Infrastructure practice, serves as Director of Research at the BCG Henderson Institute, and is a Future of Cities Fellow. With three decades of experience working with clients across the US, Europe, and the Middle East, Vlad advises governments, real estate developers, and corporate leaders on urban development, digital transformation, smart-city and resident strategies, AI-driven urban governance, and sustainable infrastructure. Previously, he directed global R&D projects in AI-based image processing at GE Healthcare. Vlad frequently delivers keynote addresses at major global urban and real estate conferences. He earned summa cum laude degrees in physics and applied mathematics, holds multiple US and European patents on digital devices, and has authored more than 50 articles. Vlad has lived in Paris, Odessa, Moscow, San Francisco, Algiers, Tashkent, and Dubai and is currently based in Riyadh. Suresh Subudhi is Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group and global leader of the firm's Travel, Cities & Infrastructure practice. He advises business and government leaders on infrastructure, real estate, urban development, tourism, travel, and logistics, and has worked with more than 50 CEOs and boards in roughly 20 countries on their most important agendas. Suresh co-leads BCG's Global Center for the Future of Cities and its Center for Mobility Innovation, focused on improving the livability and sustainability of cities through strategic master planning, large-project management, digitization, and decarbonization. An Economic Times 40 Under 40 honoree, prolific author, and TED speaker, he writes and speaks frequently on urban development, travel and mobility, and capturing value from AI, and works closely with development organizations and the World Economic Forum to drive economic impact in the Global South. Before joining BCG, Suresh worked at a leading tech startup in Austin, Texas. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Suresh now divides his time between Dubai and Mumbai.