1st Edition

Rethinking Creative Cities Policy Invisible Agents and Hidden Protagonists

Edited By Allan Watson, Calvin Taylor Copyright 2016
    110 Pages
    by Routledge

    110 Pages
    by Routledge

    In recent years, there has been high level of interest amongst policy-makers in the ‘creative city’ concept, due to the anticipation of economic and social benefits from a growing cultural and creative economy. However, a lack of understanding of local social and economic contexts, as well as the complexities and challenges of cultural production, has resulted in formulaic, ineffective misguided policies.

    This book is concerned, in various ways, with developing an understanding of the complex dimensions of cultural production, and with tackling the often weak and implied links between research, policy and urban planning. In particular, contributors are concerned with agents, protagonists and practices that appear to be somehow invisible to, hidden from, or indeed ignored in much contemporary creative cities policy. Drawing on case studies from the UK and the Netherlands, chapters consider creative industries and policy across a range of scales, from provincial cities and regional economies, to the global cities of London and Amsterdam. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Planning Studies.

    1. Introduction

    Allan Watson and Calvin Taylor

    2. Invisible Creativity? Highlighting the Hidden Impact of Freelancing in London’s Creative Industries

    Oli Mould, Tim Vorley and Kai Liu

    3. The Role of Universities in the Regional Creative Economies of the UK: Hidden Protagonists and the Challenge of Knowledge Transfer

    Roberta Comunian, Calvin Taylor and David N. Smith

    4. Spatial–Relational Mapping in Socio-Institutional Perspectives of Innovation

    Rachel C. Granger

    5. Creative City Policy and the Gap with Theory

    Jan Jacob Trip and Arie Romein

    6. Cultural Amenities: Large and Small, Mainstream and Niche - A Conceptual Framework for Cultural Planning in an Age of Austerity

    Robert C. Kloosterman

    Biography

    Allan Watson is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK, and an Associate Director of the Globalisation and World Cities research network.

    Calvin Taylor is Professor in Cultural Economy at the University of Leeds, UK, and Director of the Culture, Society and Innovation Research Hub.