Creative cities after the fall of finance

• Published in: Cities 2013-08, Vol.33, p.1-4
• Main Authors: Indergaard, Michael, Pratt, Andy C., Hutton, Thomas A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2012.09.007

"This special issue considers questions about the nature, prospects and needs of the creative economy of cities. The creative economy (or cultural and creative industries) has emerged as a key feature of economies among both 'advanced' and 'transitional' cities, and accordingly has merited a more prominent position within the urban studies discourse and agenda. While the lineage of influential work on the cultural economy of cities dates back at least as far as Allen Scott's essay in IJURR (1997), the contemporary policy discourse has its origins in Richard Florida's publication of The Creative Class (2002), a polarizing book. A decade into this debate, critics of Florida's shorthand notion of the 'three T's ('talent, technology and tolerance') as foundations of creative class attraction and retention have had success in reasserting the more fundamental and enduring saliency of capital, labor markets and deep-lying cultural assets and practices. Now it is time to push beyond localized conditions to consider broader developmental forces and circumstances."