Creative City

Abstract:  This paper presents an argument for considering issues of class in analyses of communicative planning projects. In these projects, class interests tend to be obscured by the contemporary preoccupation with the class-ambiguous category of “community”. Through a case study of a project of urban redevelopment at King's Cross in London, we conceptualize and map class interests in an urban redevelopment project. Three aspects of the planning process that contain clear class effects are looked at: the amount of office space, the flexibility of plans, and the appropriation of the urban environment as exchange or use value. These aspects structure the urban redevelopment but are external to the communicative planning process. The opposition to the redevelopment has in the planning discourse been articulated as “community”-based rather than in class-sensitive terms. We finally present three strategies for reinserting issues of class into planning theory and practice.

The practice of repurposing  resources  that  already  exist—versus innovating or engineering new ones—is an area of significant overlap between contemporary art and twenty-first-century capitalism. Low-risk and relatively low-cost, the process of creative reuse generates fantastic value-adding possibilities. Or so it seems. For even as real estate speculators and city planners discover the value of high culture for upgrading urban infrastructures, so too have a growing number of contemporary artists learned to mimic and perhaps intentionally mistranslate neoliberal enterprise culture's urban strategies into a repertoire of exonomic tools and “art+realty” hybrids that game the system against itself. Whether post-Fordist capitalism now resembles art or vice versa, virtually everything we thought we knew about “serious” culture has been peeled away with astonishing force, leaving  behind  a  raw,  and  in  some  ways  vulnerable thing: a bare art world, fully congruent with the political and economic emergency that marks our contemporaneous present.

This article claims that the emergence of television in the 1950s must be interpreted as a conservative media revolution. It aims at revisiting some of the popular narratives about the emergence of television as a revolutionary moment in media history and questions the newness of television in the European mass media ensemble. Focusing on a set of privileged sites of negotiation where the tensions between the conservative and modernising agencies of the medium became most visible or explicit, the article emphasizes the ambiguous and contested nature of television as a new medium. Finally, the author pleas for an integral approach to media history that studies the intermedial relationships and interdependencies between television and other mass media.

Artists and art communities are essential to the cultural life of cities. In New York City, artists have created networks of artist-run galleries in unlikely spaces that are outside the corporate gallery system. Sociologist Mary Kosut explores how artists generate alternative urban art economies within the contemporary New York art world.

The purpose of the paper is to offer an insight into the Romanian post-socialist urban environment, with a particular emphasis on the creative sector. How did the creative industries emerge in the Romanian cities during the post-socialist period and what were the premises for their development? How can we explain the differences between the Romanian cities in the development of the creative industries? What are the main difficulties that prevent a more dynamic growth of creative industries in a post-communist society? What are the most successful creative industries and creative cities in Romania? We shall explain the creative potential in relation to the level of the urbanization of the region, to the process of deindustrialisation, to the changes in the labour market and to decentralisation of the cultural activities. The results of our analysis show that the development of the creative sector in the Romanian cities is linked to the industrialisation and deindustrialisation process during the socialist and post-socialist periods. Though data show a positive trend of the contribution of the creative industries to the Roma-nian economy, there are impediments in their development due to a weak market of creative goods and because of the dysfunctions in the production and distribution system.

Since 2000s, there has been a development of creative economy concepts in which the new ideas and new business domains are supported. In this regard, such creative economy becomes the main mechanism driven a formation of creative city. Key discussions on the formation is the migration of flexible laborers and their enthusiasm in contributing ideas to the local economic sphere. In global societies, many creative cities are developed and interconnected in order to exchange resources-laborer, technology, and knowledge. It could be seen that the endorsement of creative economy requires two significant factors; the mobility of creative laborers and their opportunity to become parts of economic development. However, these factors can play the roles differently from one locality to another in social integration due to the cultural patterns and the government policies. In order to observe the factors in the locality of Thailand, this research has collected ethnographic data in Phuket, one of the UNESCO creative cities. Through anthropological views, the research reveals how creative people construct their networks in which the new ideas and knowledge have been exchanged and circulated. This exchange creates a network of immigrants which introduces the new creative arena to the locality as a result.

The paper explores the recent growth in critical gameplay, an application of critical design to the production of computer games. This paper outlines play pedagogy and game rhetoric, relating critical design practices to the creation of computer games. It attempts to explain the art practice of critical game design, providing a brief digital game history and identifying prominent creative works in this relatively new space.

abstract: In recent city planning, references to the concepts of the so-called creative class and the creative city are often to be found. How do those references affect the actual planning? My research on the cities of Dublin (Ireland) and Gothenburg (Sweden) shows that Richard Florida's concept of the creative class serves as a point of reference in both cases. Although the cities have specific ways of integrating the concept in their planning, they have one thing in common: the promotion of knowledge-intensive economies. That comes along with a specific understanding of creativity: it is understood as innovation. Two examples show that knowledge-intensive economies are decidedly used to enhance and/or convert certain neighborhoods. In that sense, promoting the creative economy affects both urban space(s) and the perception of the inhabitants. Therefore, governing a city by use of specific ideas has an impact, not least on the built environment. The discussion of the so-called creative cities has by now reached the city planning institutions of most of the Western European cities. Often, especially in bigger cities, the concepts creative city and creative class serve as programmatic elements of city development strategies. But so far, in sociological research, one question remained mainly unanswered: What impacts do these strategies have on the (built) environment? Meaning, what expressions does the focus on the creative class find, what places and spaces emerge and disappear in the course of this transformation? And obviously: What kind of places emerge through the work done by and for the creative class – and who are the actors? My paper presents modes of governance and the impacts that such development strategies have on cities. Empirical research in the cities of Dublin (Ireland) and Gothenburg (Sweden) shows: In both cases, it is explicitly referred to Richard Florida's concept of the creative class and his analyses on the relationship between cities and this class. Additionally, an orientation as creative city is present, but with different emphases. I will only briefly summarize Florida's main ideas before turning towards my case

This paper reviews the efforts of the municipality of Zaragoza to promote an innovative heritage education project. This project adds value to the archaeological ruins discovered a few years ago (Teatro Romano, Public Baths) and other urban spaces musealized (Forum Museum, Museo del Puerto Fluvial). Heritage education is based on a city tour that culminates in the splendid Museo Pablo Gargallo. In this proposal we are interested in the part relating to education in museums. But we also found important to have integrated different parts of the city in a real urban route. This route connects different places imbued with tradition, art, history and memory. To understand and analyze this reality we have relied on key methodological case studies, using interviews and surveys of the main groups involved: teachers, technical and cultural mediators. We have also observed numerous live group visits. Thanks to this formula (which includes several urban areas) is achieved increasing the participation of many groups, especially school visits and families.

This paper examines how informality is utilised in the branding of urban kampong and how this reshapes kampong development in the context of the Global South. We examine the case of Suci area, Bandung, which the local government relabelled as a 'creative tourism kampong' in order to rejuvenate the identity of the long-established businesses in the area. Informality is thus strategically used to develop the brand identity of the kampong. The brand of 'creative kampong' is used to reflect that deprived communities residing in the kampongs can participate in the local development agenda for promoting the creative economy. However, the policy strategies have not gone beyond relabelling the name: the characteristics and potentials from informality in the kampong are not aligned with and translated into actions to promote creativity and innovation in the existing local enterprises. As the result, the branding strategy could not develop awareness and esteem about the brand ...

Shopping malls are often criticised as a cause of the privatisation of public space and the erosion of the public sphere. Some authors argue that to fight these negative processes, shopping malls should be considered equivalent to public spaces, and therefore entail the same rules enforced in public spaces (for instance, the right to free admission and to free speech). In our opinion these approaches are unsound. In this paper we argue that: 1) shopping malls do not necessarily entail a privatisation of public space, nor necessarily any erosion of the public sphere; 2) because they are not public spaces, they cannot be considered equivalent to them; 3) they are highly open access (compared to many other kinds of both private and public spaces), and the limits they impose on some political activities are, under certain conditions, acceptable. This does not mean that the owners of private spaces are completely free to act as they choose; it means that they cannot be equated with public entities that manage spaces that belong to the public.

Both the creative industries and ICT are sectors that have stimulated the economic growth in the Netherlands in 2015-2018, the years of economic boom. The number of jobs in creative industries grew 3.4 percent per year in that period, which is twice the national average. For the ICT sector the yearly growth was 2.6 percent. Together creative industries and ICT account for 7.7 percent of the jobs in the Dutch economy, the creative industries for four percent (344.000 jobs), ICT for 3.7 percent (320.000 jobs).

Furthermore, the research reported in this document concludes: (1) Design is a fast-growing sector. (2) Free lancers account for a significant part of jobs in the Dutch creative industries. (3) From 2015 the creative industries combine job growth with economic value created. (4) The concentration of creative industries in Dutch major cities is increasing. (5) Between forty and sixty percent of the Dutch creative workforce is employed outside the creative industries. (6) Creative industries are of significant social importance; besides the economic value they represent.

In this essay I want to figure out in which ways the Squat Group Kinderen van Mokum fit into what we know about contemporary problems in Amsterdam, especially concerning the youth. In analysing literature and comparing that to the characteristics of the activist group, I want to know in what way the activism of Kinderen van Mokum is a response to the problems that young people face in Amsterdam.

עיר שסועה לה יחדיו

מהי יפו? ״מוזיאון הנַכְּבָּה״ / ״פנינת נדל״ן״ / ״כלת פלסטין״ / ״בולגריה הקטנה״ / ״קהילה תורנית מתחדשת״/ ״ג׳נטריפיקציה״? יפו קרועה בין דימויים וכוחות המלווים אותה לאורך מאה שנות המאבק על המקום. איזה סיפור ניתן לספר על העיר ואנשיה?

חוויית העיר היא תמיד חלקית, זמנית ומצבית. כפי שכתב איטאלו קאלוינו בספרו ״הערים הסמויות מעין״: ״העיר אינה אומרת את עברה, אלא מכילה אותו כאילו היה רשת קווים של כף-יד, וכל קטע מחורט אף הוא עצמו בשריטות, בניסורים, בחיתוכים, בפסיקים״.

אני יליד יפו ואנתרופולוג עירוני (“יפולוג”). חזרתי אל בית נעוריי לאחר שנים של מגורים בארה״ב ובאירופה. הבלוג מספר את סיפור העיר מתוך השריטות, החתכים והפצע הפתוח שמסרב להתאחות.

“Hidden”, “temporary”, “itinerant”, and “underground” are some of the adjectives that are frequently used to describe the so–called “guerrilla restaurants”. Since more than a decade ago, such forms of “hidden eatery” have promoted new dietary practices, also continuously “rewriting” urban texts because of their ephemeral and irregular existence. Such a phenomenon has increased visibly in recent years, also leading to socially and legally recognised services, which left the “underground” dimension and became “home restaurants”. Home restaurants have further developed the model of “social eating” promoted by their illegal predecessors, enhancing communication through the introduction of digital platforms (such as Gnammo.com, Ceneromane, Le Cesarine, Eatwith, etc.) for mapping, describing, evaluating, and managing their services and performances. At the same time, they have fomented interesting processes of gamification and active participation in civic life, as well as relevant practices of dematerialisation and rewriting of the urban space. This chapter aims to reflect on such processes by making reference to relevant case studies, which will be analysed through a semiotic methodology.

In recent years, the use of containers in architecture has become a commonplace practice. A completely different method for designing and developing architecture and our cities, compared to a more traditional approach.
The way many architects think and work
is often still con􏰀ned to the past, unable
to look to the future and to meet citizens’ needs. Sustainability, modularity, and reuse are some of the most highly debated topics today. These are words that require architecture to reconsider its approach to both the design and building phases, in order to satisfy current and future social and cultural needs, and the requirements of the city we live in.
What is the reason behind the (re)use
of containers in architecture? Can they
be considered as a proper alternative to traditional building methods? What role can the containers play in innovative living and urban space planning, and can these new models coexist with current ones? This article seeks to answer these challenging questions, and through a short overview of examples from around the world, shows why we need to rethink architecture in a different way. A more dynamic, 􏰁exible and receptive way, open to change.

https://issuu.com/trasportiecultura/docs/t_c.54-55_file_per_web

The purpose of this report is to capture the creative city experience in everyday terms, drawing on empirical research with creative workers and residents in two creative cities: Leicester and London. The intention is to subject the notion of the creative city construct to further scrutiny and to provoke wider debate about the design, practices, and ambitions of a creativity city within the context of a city’s economy and society.
The cities of Leicester and London were selected to represent distinct creative cities with different outlooks, policy focus, and behaviours. There
is a tendency in the literature and policy to use Creative Cities as an amorphous term, which assumes the same behaviour and impact,
whilst in practice, a taxonomy of different creative cities would be beneficial.

This document was written for a series of workshops with the intent that on reading and rereading this document it would be possible to understand the main issues surrounding the formulation of a workflow to address data output from digital cinematographic cameras.

It is a book in which both the genesis and development of the concept of the culture industry in the work of Adorno are scrutinized. The first chapter focuses on the context of the appearance of the Frankfurt Institut and theoretical presuppositions of the critique of the culture industry. The second chapter approaches the "classical" formulation of this critique in the "Dialectic of the Enlightenment", stressing its three main sections -- "Concept of Enlightenment", "Culture Industry as Mass Deception" and "Elements of Anti-Semitism". The third chapter focuses on Adorno's sociological approaches concerning the culture industry, as it appears in works like "The Authoritarian Personality", "The Stars down to Earth", and his Theory of Semi-Erudition. The fourth chapter deals with Adorno's aesthetical approaches to the topic of the culture industry, focusing on books such as "Minima Moralia", "Philosophy of Modern Music", "Aesthetic Theory", as well as his writings about movies and television. Finally, the fifth and last chapter focuses on what happened to the culture industry since Adorno's death in terms of technological development (analogic and digital video, Internet, social media, etc.) and geo-political changes in the world (fall of the Berlin Wall with the subsequent bankrupt of the so-called "real socialism", etc.).

This paper explores processes of urban change and gentrification that have materialized over the past five years in the neighborhood of Mar Mikhael in Beirut, Lebanon. We employ the concept of gentrification as a main way of explaining these changes. However, there exists no universal blueprint for this process: every model derives from a specific location. In the case of Mar Mikhael, the process is characterized by a presence of the creative classes and a surge in new pubs and restaurant openings, as well as the beginnings of high-end, high-rise real estate projects. We argue that in many ways, however, these developments can be seen as a linear extension of Lebanon's laissez-faire politico-economic history and tradition of rule by an elite of bankers and merchants. To demonstrate this we will, first, explicate how and why gentrification is taking place in Mar Mikhael, including the settlement of the creative class; second, scrutinize the application of global aspirations for highly creative and internationally competitive cities in the local context of Beirut; and third, explain why these processes, while fitting a general explanatory framework of gentrification, should be seen as specific to the Lebanese context by pointing towards the country’s politico-economic history

This paper intends to provide an analysis of the dark side of cultural tourism in the city of Cartagena de Indias and the damage it has caused. Is Cartagena a diverse, tolerant and open city? (Florida 2003). On paper yes, but the reality is that social inequality is so strong that the sense of control over space by the ruling class has stopped the community capital, ideas and culture to flow freely fostering a rather enclosed, intolerant and racist environment. These​ issues are hidden behind the beauty and paradisiac charm of a city trapped in selling-image discourses. The collateral damaging effects of the tourism industry has changed not only the physical space but also the mental space of the community.


Com mais de 15 anos de registros fotográficos e em vídeos, que envolvem dança, cidade e viagem, o projeto audiovisual e performático 'Ballerina Project' nos deu a ideia de tratar de um assunto que têm se tornado recorrente em nossas pesquisas: o lugar do espaço nas discussões sobre mídia. Partindo daí, temos o objetivo de tratar de um entrelaçamento entre uma noção de mídia, em relação ao espaço, como possíveis formas de se entender manifestações midiáticas como essas.

The main concept of the essay is to present the gentrification problem of the grassroots music venues in London. In the first section, I examined the idea presented by the Andrea Baker concerning the ‘Algorithm to Define Music Cities’ and its relation with the Richard’s Florida 4Ts assumption. In the second section, I analysed if London, the city which is considered by many people as the capital of European music, meets the conditions described in the Baker’s Algorithm. At this point, I briefly presented how music is significant to London economically as well as in context of cultural heritage. At the beginning of the third part, I described what I understand under the ‘grassroots music venue’ and ‘gentrification’ terms. Afterwards, I examined how many music venues, which were significant for the grassroots music scene of London, were closed within 2007-2016 and what was the real reason of their closure. Subsequently, I consider the approach of the city council in context of the music venues within the last few years as the crucial point for this problem. The significant question is how they would like to take care of the cultural heritage and if they actually consider it as the significant problem for the city itself. At the end of this section, I included two case studies to emphasize briefly the real inconveniences of the music venues. The first case study describes the story of the George Tavern, one of the oldest music venue in London, based in Shadwell and the legendary dance club Ministry of Sound located in South East London. In the conclusion, I summarized the gentrification problem and presented my critical point of view based on the information provided in the previous sections.

In this paper I explore Richard Florida's infamous Creative Class theory, which encourages growing cities to support the creative sector to spark economic development. However this theory has caused a lot of debate from academic scholars over the recent years, and my aim is to uncover the root of these debates to see why Florida's teachings are troubling to scholars like Peck, Malanga, and Markusen, amongst others.

Chapter 3 presents empirically informed analyses of a number of new public
space projects initiated first as counter-projects and counter-spaces
by a variety of community and historic preservation society interests.
It demonstrates further that, Vancouver City Council (VCC) proved
receptive to the counter-projects and provided an overarching strategic
spatial framework within which the projects on the ground were
devised and implemented. This chapter also introduces the importance
of the social animation of public space, whether through politicised
collective action or ludic enjoyment. Changing representations of space
through time are shown to have implications for spatial practice on the ground, based on differences in the way social behaviour in public
space is understood and interpreted.

Influential creative industries and creative place thinkers Richard Florida and Charles Landry agree that creativity is necessary for a prospering liveable and, therefore, sustainable city. Following Florida's work, the 'creative class' has become central to what has turned out to be city-centre-centric growth policies. However, until the Queensland University of Technology's Australian Research Council sponsored research into " creative suburbia " , few researchers had demonstrated – let alone challenged – the notion that a substantial cohort of creative industries workers might prefer to live and work at home in the suburbs rather than in city centres. The " creative suburb " work builds on the creative suburbia research. In a practice-led and property development industry embedded inquiry, the creative suburb draws on significant primary research with suburban, home-based, creative industries workers, vernacular architecture, and town planning in the Toowoomba region, in the state of Queensland, Australia, as inspiration for a series of new building and urban designs available for innovators operating in new suburban greenfield situations and suburban areas undergoing a refit in Queensland and possibly further afield. This paper focuses on one building design informed by this inquiry, with the intention of its construction as a 'showcasestudy' 'homeworkhouse', suitable for creative industries workers in the Toowoomba region.

This text focuses on analysing an underground resistance dynamic. This dynamic does not emerge in the form of aggressivity, but rather suggests an alternative to what urbanisation is now trying, on an international scale, to control, regulate and direct by employing the principle of the guaranteed city, that is, a city that seeks to assure us of the quality of its properties and claims to share the evaluation of them. Such a city thus supposedly guarantees what is ‘generally’ thought to be free-flowing traffic, heritage
architecture, a good selection of shops, efficient public services, satisfactory profitability for investments and so on. Provided for citizens in a given space, these properties of the guaranteed city contribute to the empowerment of individuals (...)

In this anthology chapter, I relate Miwon Kwon's different definitions of sites and site specificity to the field of street art. The case being studied is a photograph of two stencil works by the British artist Banksy and the artist collective Faile respectively.