Warsaw has a borderline personality

Did you ever hear someone speak of their city as a borderline personality? I did. Creative change agents in Warsaw speak of their city like that. And they still love it. Warsaw is a freaky city in a way. It has a beautiful old part, but it only dates back 50 years as it was built from scratch and rubble and reconstructed meticulously, like Montgomery Clift's face, after the war by the Russians. Then there's the part that is called the center and which is an almost American grid lay out of endless thru-roads, shiny offices and malls that pretend progress and development. Then there is the Parisian area that connects the two, where the palaces and best churches are. And then there is the part across the river, across the bridges that span the Vistula. It's Praga and it's original, pre-war and huge parts of it are run down. Some of it to such a degree that Polanski could shoot The Pianist there without much extra dereliction added. Still, Warsaw gets under your skin. If you are willing to look beyond business and the malls there is a lot of counter culture going on. There is a city of talent and 'can do' out there for those who want to look well. I love Warsaw and I can't say why. It just sticks to you in the energy of the people. It is bubbling to the surface. If, in the 21st century, a city's future is its face, what would the future be for a city with many faces?

The war on talent is over. Talent won

The war on talent is over. Talent won. This is the slogan of the World Talent Forum in Pamplona. But leaders around the world still manage to fight our current crisis by investing in infrastructure or bailing out companies, instead of investing in talent. Just spoke to my old friend Richard Florida. He said this is not a Depression, it is The Great Reset. Our whole economic and societal systems are being reset for the creative economy. The city or region that gets the message that if you invest in the development of talent and everyone's creativity NOW , will be far ahead of everyone when the crisis is over. Is your city going to get it? Or are you trying to keep farming alive when everyone around you is building factories. 'There's something happening here and you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?'

A Talent for taste

The Spanish region of Navarra, where I am now blogging from Pamplona, is trying to figure out what it should do about its talent. There is research here. There are artists and designers. But, walk thru one of the narrow cobbled streets of this city and you know where its best talents are. You can smell it from the bars, bodegas and restaurants: this is a region with a knack for good taste. It's brimming with great cuisine and best of all are the pinxtos - tapas, but then more elaborate. Petite works of art; great creations for the palate. And they cost next to nothing in bars like Niza (a national pinxtos prizewinner) or bodegas like Otona. If I were to promote Navarra I would have a slogan like 'Come to your senses, come to Navarra'.

Moscow XXL

What's authentic? I was in Moscow a few months ago. The British Council ran their wonderful The Network Effect programme. Take the Seven Sisters in Moscow. Seven huge Stalinist highrises put up by uncle Joe himself. Everyone says they're so authentic of Moscow. But they date back only to the fifties and Stalin had 7.000 buildings and 368 churches demolished to make room for his skyscrapers and towering housing blocks. Moscow was built to impress. Everything is larger than life. So is downtown Manhattan, but that has a streetlevel life of its own. Moscow is muscles. It is supposed to say: hey, we're the greatest. If the city needed a new slogan, I proposed to name it Moscow XXL. 'Cause that's what it is.

World Talent Forum in Pamplona

I've just arrived in Pamplona, Spain. It's 5 degrees and pouring. The Maisonnave hotel in the old city is on one of the narrow streets where they run the bulls during the St. Fermin festival in July. But now it's wet and quiet except for my neighbour's noisy television. Tomorrow the Agora Talentia (www.agoratalentia.es) will start, the word's first global forum on talent in the creative age. Just had a fabulous tapas dinner with Ann and Paul from the Lisbon Council and speakers from all over the world. We talked on the war on talent in times of crisis. Yes, sure: that war is over; in the sense that talent won. But will young talent get a chance to change Europe as it is? How can cities thrive in these times? We sat in a circle and had tapas the way Hemingway had, as he was a regular at the Josetxo (www.restaurantejosetxo.com). Sam from Massachusetts talked about 'the dark side of meritocracy.' Our cities are full of very eager people and creativity is a great thing, but when it comes to banking and accountancy: please be reliable and dull. So, what do you think? Will the crisis bring about a counter-globalisation thing? Like, all banks becoming nationalized an regionalized. Like, people lending money to eachother. And in an eco way: selfsustaining energy regions that produce their own energy, supply it to a regional power staion that distributes it back? And talking about food and food miles: will we rely on small circles of regional production that reduce transport? If that is so, the city and the region will become even more important. Not only as a nucleus of economic activities and talent magnet, but a selfsupportive City State 2.0.