Spaces for the creative eco-economy

Haro in La Rioja region, Spain

The city of Aviles, as existing ...

... and proposed

Spaces for the creative eco-economy

Alfonso Vegara describes research to help cities identify their creative economy

Silicon Valley has become the symbol of today’s creative economy. Many academics and businesses have studied the causes of its success. They found that it derived from the coexistence of internal conditions, the strong involvement of universities, and external factors, such as the presence of a strategic, publicly-funded military sector. Together these forces have favoured young creative graduates to form fledgling firms and learn from each other through networks. This has evolved into knowledge clusters in an environment of inter-related businesses which gave them a competitive advantage.

Evolving from spontaneous initiatives, the ‘techno-parks’ of the 1980s were geared towards the advancement of research and development. During the rapid urbanisation of that period, the public sector set up business incubators for small-scale, innovative production and diverse research units, for which it provided advice, access to venture capital, marketing and distribution networks to improve their chances of success in the free market.

Such concentration of technology and innovative businesses became a widespread model in the 1980s and took the shape of science and technology parks with varying outcomes. This movement has led to a debate on how to advance innovation and to design appropriate ‘places of excellence’ with a direct focus on the development of technology.

The flexible application of new technologies, cooperation between creative enterprises and a labour force with complementary skills remain the key to innovative production processes. Innovation is no longer in the hands of individual inventors, but emerges from communication networks shared by a highly qualified and specialised labour force. Other critical factors include the proximity of decision-making centres to facilitate combined public-private funding, as well as local social networks and the quality of the information infrastructure they can access.

Different forms of creative cities

Due to their need of substantial investment and promotion this movement has attracted public support and taken different physical forms. In Japan, Tsukuba evolved into a ‘science city’ in the late 1950s. Conversely, Kansai developed a polycentric model in the 1980s on the densely populated island of Hanshu which provided the setting for synergy and interaction. Bangalore’s success in India was due to its ‘spearhead’ role in such a large and rapidly developing country with a dynamic economy capable of supporting technological innovation. Poverty and isolation were factors for Nokia to transform itself into a spectacular global force with strong public support in Finland. Currently, Singapore is developing One-North - an evolution from its initial high-tech production plants and star-designed by Zaha Hadid. This hi-tech business complex fits in with mixed uses, including the regeneration of historic colonial housing areas. France adopted a national spatial policy to provide spaces for the creative industry in each region. Sophia Antipolis near Nice is the first and most internationally reputed science park set up during that period. Other European countries have adopted similar spatial strategies to develop an information society. Spain converted the Sevilla Expo site into a science park and Barcelona, after the World Forum in 2004, transformed an old industrial area into ‘22@BCN’ to attract IT firms. Germany has stimulated synergy between university science departments and large firms. In the United Kingdom the private sector was instrumental in initiating, designing and running science and business parks within the context of public sector-led new towns initially, and later through urban regeneration undertaken by public-private partnerships in cooperation with the existing population, to produce an integrated knowledge society such as Cambridge.

All of these initiatives attempt to attract innovative companies. What they have in common is the importance they attribute to the quality of design, well aware that the highly qualified, footloose workforce for which they are competing puts a strong emphasis on the environment in which they choose to work, live and play. Appropriate infrastructure within a conducive urban environment is a key factor for their choice of location. Science and technology parks have been developed on the periphery of cities on cheap land adjacent to motorway junctions with easy access for private cars. Yet, mentalities have changed since then and the most successful contemporary spaces for the creative economy tend to be located within the existing urban fabric, in refurbished industrial buildings or regenerated brown field sites, adjacent to urban life where they can forge synergies and integrate into society. Thus, both location and the quality of design of the physical environment are critical for the deployment of latent creativity and, by extension the competitiveness of cities. Historic centres may become the future spaces for technological innovation in Europe.

Towards an understanding of the creative economy

The Fundacion Metropoli has dedicated a lot of research to understanding these urban processes and their relevance to the creative economy. The ProyectoCITIES initiative, involving the cooperation of some twenty cities on five continents, has developed a methodology to identity the ‘components’ and ‘clusters of excellence’ which constitute the success of these cities in competing in the global economy. The research has focused on the criteria of attractiveness related to the functional and physical structure of the city. Many cities have developed spaces simultaneously and sometimes spontaneously which contribute to their unique profile. ‘Components of Excellence’ include every aspect of the urban fabric, be it housing, public and historic buildings, the public realm, its green areas and cultural spaces, or programmes of traffic-calming, pedestrianisation, energy efficiency or support structures for the economy, such as transportation, logistic and social institutions, together with innovative work places. ‘Clusters of Excellence’ are constituted by the way that the Components relate to each other and, as such, attract competitive activities and qualified human resources. They include the relationship of cities with their wider context and a spatial networks of cooperation and complementarity. Together these Components and Clusters of Excellence form the unique ‘Profile of Excellence’ of a city. Components of Excellence can either be a reality in a city or consist of concepts which need more work.

An important aspect of the ProyectoCITIES approach are ‘strategic choices’ which can be derived from the city’s Profiles of Excellence, as well as deficits and basic priorities identified in interviews with the leading city decision-makers who participate in a ‘City Forum’.

Cities are encouraged to build on their strategies using their strengths and potential, including what they can gain from cooperating with other cities to identify urban projects, instead of trying to remedy their weaknesses. Cities have limited windows of opportunity in a globalising world; having regard to their limitations, the outcome of the ProyectoCITIES analysis can help cities to turn their potential into ‘critical projects’, with clear roles for the public and private sectors as well as civil society. With such critical projects cities can in turn assist companies to increase their competitiveness, while providing a better quality of life overall for its citizenry. They have the potential to add value to human resources and improve human relations.

The Role of Urban Design

In the twenty-first century innovation tends to occur at the crossroads of disciplines. Urban spaces will have to provide places for physical as well as virtual activities accommodating creativity as well as tolerance, design therefore, has to be sensitive to both technological and cultural needs. Cities with an ‘urban project’ tend to overtake others in reaching a balance between demands of both a competitive economy and social cohesion, each of which is essential for the wellbeing of the city. In the pursuit of sustainable development, cities have to invent participatory governance to implement imaginative physical projects and achieve a balance between the urban economy, society and the environment.

These cities strive to achieve a competitive position in the knowledge based society, and this depends not only on innovation, intellectual capital and economic competitiveness, but also on social cohesion and the quality of the built environment to which urban designers can make a significant contribution. To this effect they have to build on the assets of cities and their context; it is here that the ProyectoCITIES research can make a significant contribution. Instead of relying on globalised and increasingly uniform design fashions, cities have to develop place-specific sensitivity. The Fundacion Metropoli has applied its research findings to many different urban situations and settings, for example in the La Rioja region with its wine landscape – a major economic strength of the area. It has mobilised world famous designers such as Calatrava and Gehry to assist in the transformation and evolution of this region while respecting its essence. At present this is focusing on designing ‘ecocities’, respecting the landscape, exploiting local resources but adding value with imaginative urban projects, enhancing the economies of these regions, preserving their cultural heritage while harnessing their landscape and enriching their built environment.

Alfonso Vegara, President of the Fundacion Metropoli in Madrid