Cultural Economy Planning in Creative Cities: Discourse and Practice

Abstract

While a growing body of research analyses the functional mechanisms of the cultural or creative economy, there has been little attention devoted to understanding how local governments translate this work into policy. Moreover, research in this vein focuses predominately on Richard Florida's creative class thesis rather than considering the wider body of work that may influence policy. This article seeks to develop a deeper understanding of how municipalities conceptualize and plan for the cultural economy through the lens of two cities held up as model ‘creative cities’ — Austin, Texas and Toronto, Ontario. The work pays particular attention to how the cities adopt and adapt leading theories, strategies and discourses of the cultural economy. While policy documents indicate that the cities embrace the creative city model, in practice agencies tend to adapt conventional economic development strategies for cultural economy activity and appropriate the language of the creative city for multiple purposes.

«smart Cities» of the Debt Crisis: Grassroots Creativity in Mediterranean Europe

“…Such a breakthrough is happening in the Creative City debate, with a critique of Florida (2002) and the departure from entrepreneurialism (Evans, 2009;Grodach, 2013;Peck, 2005;Pratt, 2011), and even a turn towards the grassroots with the adoption of the concept of the 'creative underclass' (Gornostaeva and Campbell, 2012;Morgan and Ren, 2012). 18.…”

“…It is worth exploring ways to enhance this trend and strategies of reversal of the urban meltdown. As the previously unchallenged hegemony of neoliberalism is contested during the crisis, we can venture to emphasize the grassroots dimension and its post-materialist values superseding consumerism (Gibson-Graham, 2008;Grodach, 2013;De Angelis, 2010).…”

Fostering Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation in Cities

“…Entrepreneurial strategies of public agencies Chapin (2002) Entrepreneurship as a stimulate agent of economic development Doucet (2013) Entrepreneurial strategies of public agencies and partnerships with the private sector Glaeser, Rosenthal and Strange (2010) Entrepreneurship as a comprehension tool of urban activities Rahman and Fatima (2011) Entrepreneurial strategies of public agencies Dannestam (2008) Innovative strategies to increase the city competitiveness Creativity Costa et al (2007) Stimulus to Creative Industries Martin et al (2015) Stimulus to Creative Industries Evans (2009) Investments in S&T and stimulus to Creative Industries Waitt and Gibson (2009) Stimulus to Creative Economy Å. Andersson and D. Andersson (2015) Investments in R&D, establishment of an academic environment and transparency of public agencies Hospers and Pen (2008) Diversity and urban instability as conditions which stimulate urban creativity Hall (2000) Stimulus to Creative Industries Carter (2013) Stimulus to Creative Industries Grodach (2013) Stimulus to Creative Economy Innovation Hospers (2008) Establishment of a city brand Capello, Caragliu and Lenzi (2012) Investments in R&D and higher education Shearmur (2012) Innovation as social process in cities Marceau (2008) Stimulus to innovation and knowledge from public agencies to firms and population Fang et al (2014) Science, technology and innovation in urban environment…”

“…According to Costa et al (2007), cultural activities (creative by nature) are one of the key points of the cities' development strategies. Creativity is an important tool for economic growth and innovation of the cities, as well as the generation of knowledge and the adoption of a culture of knowledge (Grodach 2013;Hospers and Pen 2008).…”

“…According to Costa et al (2007), these strategies are developed from the use of creativity and urban development tool. The creative city focuses its development on attracting highly skilled human resources and creative industries, in addition to the use of creativity as economic growth tool (Costa et al 2007;Grodach 2013;Pratt 2010). …”