User:Moire7913/greg

Greg Clark (born 13 April 1962) is an expert on cities and regions. He works as an advisor, mentor, and critical friend to global cities, global companies and inter-governmental organisations around the world, and is also a Chairman & Non-Executive Director, speaker, writer, thought-leader and event leader. Clark’s work centres on issues such as city economic strategy, city leadership, openness and migration, urban investment, long-term strategic planning, city branding and the future of cities.

Greg Clark has advised a wide array of bodies including the OECD, Brookings Institution, the World Bank, Urban Land Institute (ULI), the EIB, and the LSE. He has also been a strategy adviser to more than 30 cities on five continents^[1] including Singapore, London, New York, Toronto, Barcelona, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, Vienna, Oslo, Auckland and Moscow^[2].

Early Life and Education

Greg Clark was born in Wimbledon, London on 13 April 1962. A tennis-mad youngster growing up in London’s SW19, Clark dreamed of playing at the All England Club and managed to see all of Bjorn Borg’s men’s singles finals. Clark was educated at Wimbledon College (where he excelled in sports and was House Captain) and Cambridge University, where he read Education and Social and Political Science, was JCR President and acted in many productions and sketch shows.

Before going up to Cambridge Clark spent a ‘gap year and a half’ in Mexico City and New York City doing voluntary work with homeless and disadvantaged children, and this began his infatuation with the world’s biggest cities.

In 1995, Clark was selected as a Harkness Fellow and was based at Columbia University in New York City, where he studied City and Regional Planning. He spent much of 18 months of his Fellowship as a guest of the US Federal Government, assessing city and regional economic development in 12 US Cities^[3].

Clark returned to London in 1997, and took up a two year part-time role as a research scholar in City & Regional Economics at the London School of Economics. Since 2004 he has been a visiting professor at the Cass Business School, City University, London.

Career

From 1986 to 1990 Clark’s career began with roles focussed on Local Economies and Employment at the British Refugee Council, The London Borough of Lambeth, and The Local Economy Policy Unit.

Between 1990 and 2006 Greg Clark held a variety of leadership roles in London in the sphere of urban economic development including: International Programmes Director at the London Docklands Development Corporation (1990 to 1994), Managing Director, Economic Development at Greater London Enterprise, & Chief Executive of the London Enterprise Agency ‘One London’ (1994 to 2001); Executive Director of Strategy and Communications, London Development Agency (2001 to 2004) and (part time) Lead Advisor on City & Regional Development, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2004 to 2010).

Since 2004 Clark has developed a portfolio of advisory roles with global organisations and institutions, and has undertaken reviews of more than 100 cities around the world^[4], chiefly for the OECD and World Bank. He has directed comparative studies and assessments of London and New York, British & Spanish cities, UK & Canadian Cities, and UK & Chinese Cities. His international roles have included chairman of the International Advisory Committee for the Sao Paulo 2040 Strategic Plan, International Advisor on Strategic Planning in Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Johannesburg and Cape Town, and International Advisor on the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan^[5].

Clark is also a skilled chairman and moderator of summits and gatherings notably the World Cities Summit (2011, 2012, and 2013) and Asia Pacific Cities Summit (2011, 2013)^[6].

Greg Clark has written extensively on cities and urban development practices, publishing ten books to date and numerous articles. He is also founder and CEO of an independent senior advisory practice, The Business of Cities Ltd, which provides leadership, mentoring and advocacy on metropolitan development and investment to global clients in 5 continents.

More recently he has also been a commissioner on the West End Commission^[7]; and member of the Mayor of London’s Promote London Council^[8].

Recognition

Greg Clark was awarded a Harkness Fellowship in 1994.

In 2010 The City of Barcelona awarded him the John Shield’s Prize, a unique award given once a year to the international person outside Barcelona that has done most to promote the city^[9].

In 2011, he was awarded the commission to write the Honor Chapman Report, created to remember Honor Chapman who died in 2009^[10]. Clark’s report on London’s development as a world city since 1991 is now being prepared for publication by Wiley in 2014.

Current Roles

Greg Clark maintains a wide portfolio of collaborative activities that currently holds the following positions:

• Chairman, OECD Forum on Local Development Agencies and Investment Strategies, Paris.

• Senior Fellow, Urban Land Institute (ULI), Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.

• Global Fellow, Metropolitan Programme, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC.

• Co-chairman, New York Metropolitan Global Advisory Board

• World Bank Advisor on Metropolitan Strategy.

• Member, Lead Expert Group, UK Government Office for Science, Future of Cities Foresight Project.

• Commissioner, Cities Growth Commission, Royal Society of Arts, UK.

• Member, UK Gov Smart Cities Forum

• Board Member, London Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and London Infrastructure Group

• Chairman, London Stansted Cambridge Consortium.

• Chairman, British BIDs

• Board Advisor, London Heart of London

• Global Cities Advisor, Cap Gemini.

• Board of Directors, Centre for London.

• Board of Directors, Centre for Cities.

• Visiting Professor, Cass Business School, City of London University.

• Associate, LSE Cities, London School of Economics.

• Member, Future of Cities Advisory Board, Oxford University.

• CEO and Founder, The Business of Cities Ltd

Personal Life

Greg Clark is married to Julia Franks, a psychotherapist. They have two sons and live in North London. Clark is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an avid supporter of Arsenal Football Club.

Publications

Clark, G and Moonen, T (2010) British Cities in a Global System: What can we offer International Learning (The Work Foundation)

Clark, G and Moonen, T (2013) The Business of Cities 2013: What do 150 city indexes and benchmarking studies tell us about the urban world in 2013 (Jones Lang La Salle)

For OECD

Clark, G and Mountford, D (eds.) (2007) Investment Strategies and Financial Tools for Local Development, Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), OECD Publishing.

Clark, G (2008) Local Development Benefits from Staging Global Events, Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), OECD Publishing.

Clark, G (2009) Recession, Recovery, and Reinvestment: the Role of Local Economic Leadership in a Global Crisis,Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), OECD Publishing.

Clark, G Huxley, J and Mountford, D (2010) Organising Local Economic Development: The Role of Development Agencies and Companies,Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), OECD Publishing.

Clark, G and Moonen, T (2013) Delivering Local Development: New Growth and Investment StrategiesLocal Economic and Employment Development (LEED), OECD Publishing.

Clark, G (2013) Leadership of Local Economic Development (coming later this year)

For British Council

Clark, G (Ed.) (2008) Towards OpenCities, British Council

Clark, G (2010) Understanding OpenCities, British Council

Clark, G (2010) Internationalisation of OpenCities,British Council

Clark, G (2010) Leadership and Governance on OpenCities, British Council

Clark, G (2010) Managing Diversity in OpenCities, British Council

For ULI