Creative Industries from an Evolutionary Perspective: A Critical Literature Review

Abstract

Although creative industries have been popular as a research topic among social scientists from various backgrounds, most studies lack an explicit evolutionary, history-informed perspective. In this paper, we critically explore whether the notions of evolutionary economic geography can contribute to analyzing and explaining the spatial dynamics of creative industries, which has not been done yet in a systematic way. Although not all evolutionary concepts are useful, we conclude that co-evolution in particular has important potential in helping to explain the spatial dynamics of creative industries in a comparative perspective.

The resilience of knowledge from industrial to creative clusters: the case of regional craft clusters in the West Midlands (UK)

“…However, we argue there is a lesser understanding of the evolution of production, knowledge and networks over time, and only and handful of case studies have been able to apply a longitudinal perspective to the study of clusters (Ter Wal, 2013, Iammarino andMcCann, 2006). This, we agree with Berg and Hassink (2014), is particularly true for creative clusters, which have tended to be studied with particular attention to specific policies and interventions but not with an evolutionary perspective.…”

“…Our understanding of clusters and their evolution and resilience has expanded in the last decades. However, little research has considered the importance of resilience and evolution with specific reference to creative clusters (Berg and Hassink, 2014). This chapter aims to survey the emergent literature on resilience and evolutionary perspectives in economic geography, connecting it with our current knowledge and understanding of creative clusters (Pratt, 2004).…”

How do various types of regions attract creative industries? Comparison of metropolitan, old industrial and rural regions in Czechia

“…The concept of path dependency (partly co-evolution) can also be used to explain regional differentiation of industrial structure of CI (Berg, S.H. and Hassink, R. 2014).…”

On the Implications of Knowledge Bases for Regional Innovation Policies in Germany

“…Creative and cultural industries, such as film making, music, design, fashion, publishing, or advertising (Berg, Hassink 2013), are good examples of economic sectors for which symbolic knowledge inputs are of fundamental importance. As can be seen in Table 1, some of the key features of the symbolic knowledge base are similar to those of the synthetic one.…”