Creative cities? Andy Pratt
Above Beijing Dashanzi Art Factory – an emerging cultural quarter
Creative cities?
Andy Pratt demands a more critical appreciation of ‘creative cities’
The idea of the Creative City is ‘the policy du jour’ and what’s not to like? Who would want an ‘uncreative city’? As many cities have suffered de-industrialisation or massive in-migration, there has been a loss of faith in traditional economic foundations. The common desire is to attract foreign investments, and hence new jobs. But, where does the creative city fit into this? We can identify three varieties of the creative city: place marketing; novel policy process; and, cultural and creative industries. I want to make a case against the first of these - the popular version linked to Richard Florida’s work on the ‘creative class’. The other two are different and complementary alternatives.
Faced with the need to generate economic growth, it is not surprising that policy makers look for the ‘next big thing’. Other than the financial services sector which is limited to a club of ‘global cities’, what is next? The answer is Knowledge, Information and Culture.
Many cities are seeking to gather the creative (and high value-added) elements of the world economy in their own backyards. Since the 1970s, this approach has been based on place marketing - a ‘city beauty’ pageant to win the investment. Initially, competition was about subsidised land, buildings or wages to attract investors; however, when cash incentives were offered this verged into corruption and collapsed. The search was then on for a ‘Unique Selling Proposition (USP)’ for cities, and was typically seen as ‘culture’. But, not everywhere has a world-famous and unique cultural celebration such as Rio’s carnival or an asset like Sydney Harbour. So, those without an obvious USP sought to create one, with a popular option being the ‘starchitect’ building - the more controversial the better, especially if it is a public building demonstrating the ‘cultured’ nature of the city - an art gallery perhaps?
This is the basis of new competition, with new buildings held up as baubles to create a ‘feel good’ factor about the city, and pandering to the cultural mores of decision-makers. The desired result is that the decision-makers bring their companies and jobs and, hence wealth to the city. Richard Florida’s work focuses on the fact that a particular cultural milieu may attract a particular group of workers - the creative class - who ‘decision makers’ will chase after. Yet it is important to recognise that culture is used in a purely instrumental manner in this policy. But are city arts and cultural budgets being swallowed up in flashy buildings, so that once opened they have little revenue to actually populate them with culture or performance? What about those who do not like this high art? Where is the accountability for taxpayers’ money in this cultural apartheid? It may be argued that the workers get jobs, and so there is no problem, but is it a choice between culture and jobs?
Charles Landry’s work on the Creative City is such a useful corrective. His thesis is not about consumption, but about process. It is about an inclusive and participatory city where arts and culture are a means and a practice of place-making and living.
Moving to the third variety of ‘creative city’ associated with the ‘production’ of culture, there has been much hype about the growth of the cultural and creative industries in recent years. This has been encouraged by economic analyses, such as the Department of Culture, Media and Sport 1998 Creative industries mapping document, which highlighted the contribution of ‘creative industries’ to economic output, jobs and exports. Within Europe, this is in excess of car manufacturing and chemical industries combined. In some cities such as London, creative industries vie for third place in the economy, and reports show that creative industries continue to grow (unlike other sectors).
Debate is focused on the power of this sector to provide real jobs and outputs, as well as feeding the arts, a wider cultural economy, and social life. Essentially, cultural and creative industries (whether film, TV, fine art, theatre, music, computer games, architectural design, high fashion, etc) create ideas and jobs, but they seem to be more rooted than the footloose manufacturers of the past. It is not cheap land and buildings that appeal; it is people, ideas, and interaction with audiences and consumers. The real creative city, generating ideas that impact on our social and cultural life, is one that has a vibrant ecosystem of creative industries and workers. In addition a high proportion of creative workers are freelance, each needing a vast pool of potential employers, biasing the sector towards major cities.
Therefore there is a need to understand and appreciate what the creative and cultural industries are; how they operate; their labour force and skills; and their wider cultural environment. We must work out how to maintain or grow these activities; we need to shift our focus away from final consumption and shopping, to the broader processes of creative production, and how they are embedded in and have links across cities. A creative city cannot be founded like a cathedral in the desert; it needs to be linked to and be part of an existing cultural environment. We need to appreciate complex interdependencies, and not simply use one to exploit the other if we want a real creative city.
Dr Andy C Pratt is Director of London School of Economics Urban Research Centre.
1 Florida R L, 2002, The Rise Of The Creative Class: And How It Is Transforming Work, Leisure, Community And Everyday Life (Basic Books, New York, NY).<
