Do ‘creative cities’ have a dark side? Cultural scenes and socioeconomic status in Barcelona and Madrid (1991–2001)

• Published in: Cities 2013-12, Vol.35, p.213-220
• Main Author: Navarro Yanez, Clemente J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Creativity; Cultural scenes; Culture; Demographics; Equality; Gentrification; Localization; Neighborhoods; Segregation; Socioeconomic status; Spain; Urban policies; Urban policy
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2013.05.007

•The complementary use of creative class and gentrification approaches is proposed to develop comparative analyses.•A strong relationship between socioeconomic status and non-conventional scenes is showed.•Change in neighbourhoods describe a ‘cultural attraction model’: non-conventional scenes attract high status population.•Neo-bohemian neighbourhoods suppose a pre-gentrification phase.•The impact of creative city strategies varies according to the character of urban policy in each city. Studies of culture and creativity have shown that they can play an effective role in promoting local development. However, cultural projects and strategies oriented to promote creativity may also promote inequalities inside the city. According to the gentrification thesis, the result of these strategies could be segregation processes and the generation of “tourist bubbles”. Thus, “creative cities” may have a “dark side”, which becomes apparent when the analysis compares differences whitin instead of among cities. This article aims to examine this issue in two large Spanish cities (Barcelona and Madrid) by analyzing the change in socioeconomic status and cultural scenes between 1991 and 2001 at the city and neighborhoods levels. This analysis will attempt to answer two main questions: is localization of cultural scenes in the city associated with socioeconomic status?, does this relationship varies between cities? The main results indicate a positive answer for these questions. First, there is a strong relationship between socioeconomic status and non-conventional cultural scenes. Nevertheless, cross-lagged regression analyses show that change in cultural scenes depends on socioeconomic status, whereas the effect of cultural scenes on socioeconomic change is weaker. Second, this pattern is stronger in Madrid than in Barcelona: a stronger relationship between cultural scenes and socioeconomic status exists in Madrid, and socioeconomic status had a stronger effect on changes cultural scenes between 1991 and 2001. This difference may be explained by the urban policies developed in these cities. More comparative analyses needed to confirm this potential dark side of creative cities.