1 Making Cultural Clusters: New Strategies for Culture-led Urban Redevelopment Dr. CHEN, Yun-Chung Assistant Professor, Division of Social Science, HKUST Dr. SZETO, May Mirana Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature, HKU Note: This research is supported by the CPU (Project No.: HKUST6001-PPR-3)

Outline 1. What is a Cultural Cluster? The typology of cultural clusters The advantage of sticking together 2. Example: the cultural clusters in Central The Art Gallery cluster The strengths and weaknesses 3. New Strategies

Industrial Cluster – the original idea The idea of industrial cluster comes from Ahfred Marshall The advantage of external economy of scale Cut production cost (flexible specialization) Cut transportation cost (proximity) Shared infrastructure (e.g. trade fair; trade association; training school; collaborative R&D) Shared human resources (save retraining cost) Collective Innovation (synergy through interaction)

Industrial Clusters in the Third Italy

Cultural Cluster Narrow definition – industries that produce cultural products Large and Highly Industrialized sectors: Hollywood in Los Angeles; Fashion Design in New York Small & Medium sized & low industrialized sectors: The Movie industry, Jewelry industries, Lee Tung Street Wedding Card Printing Industry in Hong Kong Broad definition: a system of relations set in a territorially-bounded area, which integrates the process of valorisation of material and immaterial cultural resources with infrastructures and different productive sectors associated to the process itself

Typology of Cultural Clusters 1. Cultural Infrastructure: museum cluster in Tsim Sha Tsui, West Kowloon Cultural District 2. Artist Village (Cultural Production): Cattle Depot, Fotan in Shatin, JCACC 3. Art Bazaar (Cultural Consumption) : Galleries and Antique stores in Central 4. Governments themed-mall style urban redevelopment : Garden of the Marriage in Wanchai and Old Shop Street in Central 5. Community settlement preservation: Open wet-market preservation in Wanchai and Central

The advantage of sticking together 1. External economy of scale – flexible production 2. Brand effect – attract more customers 3. Competition & cooperation – specialization 4. Shared Infrastructure – e.g. rehearsal room 5. Shared human resources – retain talent 6. Collective Innovation – R&D center 7. Collective Advocacy – trade association 8. Community building – localization cultural identity

Cultural Clusters in Central 1. Cultural infrastructures? 2. Artist Village Resident art groups in and around Sheung Wan Civic Centre 3. Art Bazzar Galleries, Antique stores 4. Themed-mall style urban redevelopment: Old Shop Street 5. Community settlement preservation : The Edinburgh Place complex; Central Police Station; Graham Street/Peel Street wet-market

Art Bazaar : Galleries in Central

Distribution of Galleries in Hong Kong Central Sheung Wan Wan Chai Causeway Bay Happy Valley Aberdeen Chai Wan Tsim Sha Tsui Shek Kip Mei Kwai Chung Kwung Tung Fo Tan Sai Kung TOTAL Source: Art Walk 2009, compiled by Jeff Leung

Artists featured in the Galleries China % Western Europe % Southeast Asia % Hong Kong 57.4% Eastern Europe 45.9% Korea 22.9% Japan 11.5% 68100% *Over 70% of the artwork by artists from a particular region\ Source: Art Walk 2009, compiled by Jeff Leung

Why Central? 1) Clients concentrated in Central : FIRE sectors (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) 2) Lively business district: good shopping spot 3) Near traditional markets 4) High ceiling (tenement houses)

Weaknesses and Strengths 1. External economy of scale – X X 2. Brand effect – attract more customers 3. Competition & cooperation – cooperation X 4. Shared Infrastructure – Asia Art Archive, Art Walk, Art Map; Auction House Ambience of built environment 5. Shared human resources – retain talent X 6. knowledge spillover – gallery operators will attend openings of other galleries 7. Collective Advocacy – trade association X X 8. Community building – local identity X

How to strengthen the cluster? Collective advocacy: Hong Kong Art Fair (TDC) Arts Festival (Hong Kong Tourism Board) Joint Promotion & R&D (Gallery Association; Gallery- Antique alliance (cross-sector alliance)) Preserve the ambience and cultural diversity Actively participate in: Graham Street / Peel Street Wet-market & Central Police Station preservation Alternative redevelopment strategies (rethinking further soho- ization) Localization: Build community identity together with residents

Implications for the WKCD – are we ready? Embedded in the local & regional neighborhoods vs. Segregation Integrate with large West Kowloon districts Full accessibility Networks of squares and green belts Networks of cultural facilities and spaces Art production (Artist village / AIR) Art education base Small private art venue

URAs themed-mall plan – Old Shop Street

Alternative proposal

Alternative Proposal