Mosquitoes in the mix: How transferable is creative city thinking?

Abstract

This paper contributes to recent debates about whether urban policy discourses are transferable and what is at stake in their translation. It draws on discussion of Darwin (Northwest Territory, Australia), a tropical savanna location that the local government wants to promote as a 'creative city', without quite knowing what this might require. We discuss relevant debates on research knowledge construction, the creative city and the path-dependent character of neoliberal governmental objectives. We then turn to the geographical, demographic and cultural characteristics that make Darwin a challenging and distinct context for translation of global theories of creative city rejuvenation. As well as arguing a case for more nuanced, locationally specific, analysis of the capacity of places to embrace travelling policy discourses, we suggest ways in which creative city research can be refreshed through engaging with literatures on (post)colonial urban politics and intersections with policy initiatives other than those targeted at 'creative industries' per se. We systematically outline the particular challenges that tropical cities in remote locations provide to accepted wisdom about creativity-led urban planning.

Beyond the Creative City: Cognitive–Cultural Capitalism and the New Urbanism

“…This enthusiastic reception is reflected in the proliferation of cities over the last decade or so that claim to have been touched in one way or another by the viaticum of creativity. By one account, there are now over 60 self-professed creative cities worldwide (KARVOUNIS, 2010), and even such palpably improbable places -on the face of it, at least -as Sudbury, Canada (PAQUETTE, 2009), Milwaukee, USA (ZIMMERMAN, 2008), Huddersfield, UK (CHAT- TERTON, 2000), and Darwin, Australia (LUCKMAN et al, 2009) have now jumped into the fray. As KONG and O'CONNOR (2010) indicate, the idea has caught on with special tenacity in Asian policy circles, and is notably strong in China where the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongquin and Wuhan (not to forget Hong Kong and Macau) are all now asserting their creative accomplishments and potentials.…”

Signals and Signposts of the Future: Literary Festival Consumption in 2050

“…The strategies could curtail the new power configurations necessary for genuinely creative places (Landry 2006;Luckman et al 2009;McClinchey 2008).…”

Making Connections: creative industries networks in outer-suburban locations

“…But this article focuses on a diverse industrial sector-the creative industries-rather than on a single organisation or a single industry, and thus a comprehensive network analysis is not feasible. While we acknowledge the importance of regional and international networks, a focus on the local adds insight into the growing literature which attends to "creative places" (Gibson & Luckman 2009, Kong et al 2005, Luckman 2009 advertising, graphic design, and marketing; architecture, visual arts and design; music…”