Charles Landry

Charles Landry (born July 1, 1948) is an author, speaker and international adviser on the future of cities best known for popularising the Creative City concept. 

He is credited for his attempt to rethink city making through his work on intercultural cities, the psychology of cities, creative bureaucracies and the measurement of creativity in cities – the latter developed with Bilbao and now assessed through in-depth studies of 25 cities. Previously he founded the think tank Comedia in 1978, which pioneered the connection between culture, creativity and city transformation.

His books

The Civic City in a Nomadic World (2017)

The Creative Bureaucracy & its radical common sense with Margie Caust (2017)

Psychology and the City (2017) with Chris Murray

The Digitized City (2016)

Cities of Ambition (2015)

The Fragile City & the Risk Nexus (2014) with Tom Burke

Culture & Commerce (2013)

The Creative City Index (2013) with Jonathan Hyams

The Sensory Landscape of Cities (2012)

The Origins & Futures of the Creative City (2012)

The Intercultural City: Planning for Diversity Advantage (2007) with Phil Wood

The Art of City Making (2006)

The Creative City: A toolkit for urban innovators (2000)

The Creative City in Britain & Germany (1996) with Franco Bianchini & Ralph Ebert

The Other Invisible Hand with Geoff Mulgan (1995)

Libraries in a world of cultural change (1995) with Liz Greenhalgh & Ken Worpole

The Creative City with Franco Bianchini (1994)

Borrowed time? :the future of public libraries in the UK (1993)

What a way to run a railroad: An analysis of radical failure (1985) with Dave Morley, Russell Southwood, Patrick Wright

Here is the Other News: Challenges to the Local Commercial Press (1980) with Crispin Aubrey and Dave Morley

Where is the Other News: The Newstrade & the Radical Press (1980 (

The Other Secret Service: Press distributors & press censorship (1980) with Liz Cooper and Dave Berry