Greg Clark
Urban Development

A Leading International Speaker on Making Cities and Regions Work

Conference and Seminar Speaker, on city and regional themes.
Advisor and Reviewer, on city and regional strategy and tools.
Facilitator, of strategy processes and key note meetings.
Writer, and commentator on city and regional progress.

20 years of working in leadership positions in city agencies in London
Reviewer of over 100 cities and regions in 5 continents world wide
10 years of working with National Governments and International Organizations on city success

Greg Clark is an ‘on the ground’ practitioner who has held leadership positions in city agencies in London over the past 20 years and now works with cities and regions world wide to tackle real problems and challenges. He has advised on the implementation of practical and effective policies and strategies for cities and regions that include: Sydney, Seoul, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Toronto, New York, Krakow, Milan, Auckland, Turin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, and several significant others. A highly experienced and dynamic conference speaker and chairman, Greg Clark has spoken at, or chaired, over 200 conferences, on subjects from City Competitiveness to Regional Development, to Leadership issues facing cities and regions, to the advantages of diversity to cities and regions in a global economy. Greg Clark’s Current Portfolio:

• Special advisor to eight individual cities in four continents

• Advisor on City and Regional Development at the Office of The Deputy Prime Minister, (ODPM) UK

• Global Practice Advisor at The London Development Agency (LDA) and Chairman of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Forum of Cities and Regions. 

• Advisor and facilitator with the OECD and the World Bank, specifically peer reviews of city regeneration and regional economic development internationally. He is also the OECD’s lead advisor on metropolitan strategy reviews.

• Advisor to the UK-Canada Cities Colloquia 2005, which identifies how British and Canadian Cities should learn from each other and work together. 

• Director for a major new collaboration between British and Spanish Cities for the British Council

An internationally published writer Greg Clark has published over 50 published papers, commentaries and articles including those published in the Guardian newspaper (UK), and The Financial Times newspaper (UK) and a wide range of specialist press.

Why Book Greg Clark to Speak at Your Conference?

Unlike many other speakers and scholars on cities and regions, Greg Clark is a practitioner with 20 years ‘hands on’ experience and knowledge from London and other great cities around the world. In his early 40s, he is one of the freshest and most experienced and respected leaders in his field. He works closely with the UK Government and is a ‘special advisor’ to eight major cities internationally. He facilitates strategy and development processes for city, regional and national leaders across five continents.

Greg Clarks’s Expertise – Practical strategies and tools for the new era for cities and regions.

The industrial society of the past two centuries required cities and regions in the developed world to deliver specific roles, and it gave them their character and functions, shaping their land uses, transportation systems, housing stock, amenities and settlement patterns.

The current global knowledge based era asks for something different. It needs cities and regions to respond in new ways. They have to respond to increased mobility, and the different demands of families, mobile firms, investors, workers, visitors and residents, who expect excellent services, access to opportunities and improved environments. They have to innovate and change to survive and flourish, set their own direction, and garner support from national governments and from partners in business and in civic life. To achieve this requires new strategies and plans and new tools and agencies. Moreover, fundamentally, it requires fresh leadership.

Drawing on his 20 years direct experience Greg Clark helps cities and regions to; generate new leadership, build new city-regional strategies and collaborations with business and civic society, generate financial innovation and investment, create new agencies and invest in powerful place branding and marketing. He speaks at conferences and seminars on city and regional themes where he says that to succeed in the current era, cities and regions have to provide:

• Connections to the world economy giving access to; jobs, markets for products and services, global knowledge and expertise, visitors, new populations, and mobile events.

• Quality of life that provides good housing choices for people and families. Amenities and excellent services for resident populations and those who visit.

• Opportunities for people to acquire new skills, knowledge and abilities, and to access meaningful employment.

• Leadership that communicates the future path for the city or region and accurately understands its assets, endowment, and opportunities, taking bold decisions and implementing strategies fully.

• Innovation in institutions that can produce new policies, services, and tools, and can communicate well with multiple stakeholders and audiences.

• Collaboration between different parties and organizations including neighboring areas, higher spheres of government and business and civic society.

Greg Clark’s Career Highlights:

• Greg Clark has designed, delivered and managed over 1,000 practical initiatives to deliver positive change at a local level in London

• Most recently he launched the work programme to deliver the legacy and wider benefits of London 2012 Olympics

• He coordinated and led London’s first Statutory Economic Development Strategy (in 2001) and led the economic development input to the London Plan in 2003, and is facilitating the review of the London Plan in 2005.

• Led a campaign to help London’s 42 Universities market themselves together in the global market (2004)

• Led a project to revitalize London’s brand and marketing through a co-coordinated programme of brand building and collaboration between marketing agencies (in 2003).

• Led the merger of the London Enterprise Agency and Greater London Enterprise to create the biggest small business support company in the UK.

• Established a London Private Investment Commission to bring 20 Institutional Investors and banks into London’s regeneration investment ( 2002)

• Coordinated the successful campaign to get £100,000,000 of European Union (EU) regional investment into London (1990)

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