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The rise of the new`creative' imperative Recent interest in the role of creativity in economic development has sparked a host of conceptual and empirical studies seeking to document the rise of a creative economy, and its socioeconomic and spatial manifestations (for example,

This article examines the evolution of New York City from a low-end, high-volume apparel manufacturing hub to an international fashion capital. Drawing on evolutionary economic theories of path-dependence, it argues that New York City's initial specialization in ready-to-wear apparel has shaped its subsequent development as a mass-market oriented industry. At the same time, however, it shows how key institutional actors were able to alter the industry's course of development at critical historical junctures by nurturing and promoting their own local design talent. As such, the article's investigation into New York's ascendance as an international fashion center challenges the dominant interpretation of path-dependence in regional development theory and practice. It contends that industries are not held captive to past choices and illustrates how an industry's origins can shape but not over-determine its economic development trajectory. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.

Employing an evolutionary economics framework, this paper investigates the innovation process in the New York City Garment District's women's wear industry. It analyses the ways in which Garment District designers have been able to exploit innovative ideas from an emerging design cluster on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and the role that the District's institutional infrastructure plays in facilitating this process. The paper argues that the variety as well as the economic coherence provided by the District's design innovation system underlies its ability to adapt to shifting competitive pressures. A partir de la theorie economique evolutionniste, cet article cherche a etudier le processus d'innovation dans le vetement feminin a New York. On analyse les facons dont les modelistes ont pu exploiter des idees novatrices qui proviennent d'un groupe de modelistes naissant situe a Manhattan dans le Lower East Side, et le role que joue l'infrastructure institutionnelle du district pour faciliter ce processus. L'article affirme que la variete ainsi que la coherence economique que fournit le systeme d'innovation conception sous-tend sa capacite de s'adapter aux forces competitives changeantes. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht den Innovationsprozess in New Yorks Distrikt der Damenbekleidungsindustrie im Rahmen der evolutionaren Wirtschaftswissenschaft. Es werden Wege analysiert, die es Entwurfen fur den Bekleidungsindutriedistrikt gestatten, innovative Ideen einer im Aufsteigen begriffenen, in der Lower East Side von Manhattan ansassigen Entwerfergruppe zu ubernehmen, und damit die Rolle, die die institutionelle Infrastruktur des Distrikts bei der Durchfuhrung dieses Vorgangs spielt. Der Aufsatz vertritt den Standpunkt, dass der Anpassungsfahigkeit sowohl Vielfalt als auch das vom Distrikt beigesteuerte System der Entwurfsinnovation zu Grunde liegt.New York City, Apparel Industry, Fashion Design, Regional Innovation System, Evolutionary Economics,

As part of a broader process of inter‐urban competition, city governments have increasingly sought to ‘position’ themselves as centres of creativity. In these branding initiatives, culture is viewed as a tool of urban regeneration and economic development. Our paper examines the case of Commerce Design Montréal, an annual design competition run by the City of Montréal, which aims to brand Montréal as a centre of design. Commerce Design Montréal is an example of a ‘fast’ policy initiated by the state, but carried out by business owners and citizens. As such, it represents a downloading of the responsibility for economic development to the private or individual scale and adopts only a partial view of the varied actors and uses that are implicated in the design process. The paper considers the opportunities and challenges that this model presents for promoting design as a form of urban regeneration in a neo‐liberal context.