Designing the dragon or does the dragon design? An analysis of the impact of creative industries on urban development of Beijing

Abstract

Inspired by work on the creative class and creative cities, cities in Europe and Northern America have started to invest in creativity in general and in design in particular. Much less is known about the role of creativity in emerging economies. This paper analyses the role of design in the socioeconomic development of Beijing. We identify main success factors and barriers for design businesses and show how design can be used for socioeconomic development. Backed up by state investments and fast decision making, neighbourhoods have been revitalised and modern iconic landmarks are added to the collection of old monuments. Moreover, priority has changed from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China', allowing the country's industries to move upwards in the value chain. Nevertheless, and despite of the presence of key research institutes, further developments of the design sector and the use of design in other sectors are major challenges laying ahead.

Upgrading of Symbolic and Synthetic Knowledge Bases: Analysis of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry and the Automotive Industry in China

“…The first project concerns a study towards the development of manufacturing in a globallocal perspective with a case study of the automotive industry in Shanghai (Van Winden et al, 2010; The second project is a study towards the role of design in cities with a case study of the development of (architecture) design in Beijing ( Van der Borg and Van Tuijl, 2010;Van Tuijl and Van der Borg, 2011).…”

“…This makes the city also suitable to analyse upgrading of different knowledge bases in the AEC industry. This industry is also analysed in Beijing, as the capital is considered as one of the global cities with the most architects (Knox and Taylor, 2005) and the proximity to the state government has some advantages for the development of architecture due to fast decision making, implementation of plans, access to financial resources and development of key projects for which foreign 'starchitects' have been invited (Van Tuijl and Van der Borg, 2011). This makes it interesting to study upgrading of different knowledge bases in a globallocal perspective.…”