Culture as an Economic Factor in the development of the city Geoffrey Brown

What is culture ? “A whole way of life” A certain level of knowledge and understanding Particular products with aesthetic or symbolic meaning

Cultural Industries: a Definition “…those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.” (UK Government, Department of Culture, Media and Sport)

From definition to question… ‘Cultural industries’: products turned into commodities generating value Economic value derives from their cultural value QUESTION: how can one be turned into the other ?

Culture as commodity production Mass reproduction & distribution – combination of technology, business and culture Books, performing arts, visual arts Newspapers, journals, prints, photography, printed music Recorded music, film, radio TV (video, photocopies, printing) Digitalisation & new communication technologies (a new convergence ?) New technologies and new business models constantly transform the existing field

Industrial Economy Structure OriginationProductionDistributionConsumption

Cultural Industry Structure OriginationProductionDistributionConsumption

Cultural industries as new economy Fordism to post-Fordism – mass production to flexible specialisation: National space to global / local spaces New economy – innovation, creativity, flexibility, reflexivity, responsiveness CIs no longer a remnant of the old but a template for the new

Changing Role of the Artist Diminished role for state patronage. Cheap technology makes art easier. More artists, more art. ‘Consumers’ (experiencers) become more demanding (and discerning?). The public participates, becomes creative. Creativity is not seen as magic, ‘art’ becomes a common human activity.

CIs are growing… Education; leisure, disposable income New technologies of creation, distribution and consumption Increased consumption of cultural goods as part of lifestyle Increased cultural component of material goods Increased cultural component of service products Information and communication now meshed with symbolic

How do they link to cities ? Cities as nodes in global network Creativity, innovation, competitiveness: CIs CIs – articulation of large and small companies Clusters, networks, projects – ideas, information, support, trust Tacit knowledge, traditions, institutions, ‘atmosphere’, local identity

They thrive on easy access to local, tacit know-how – a style, a look, a sound – which is not accessible globally. Thus the cultural industries based on local know-how and skills show how cities can negotiate a new accommodation with the global market, in which cultural producers sell into much larger markets but rely on a distinctive and defensible local base (Leadbeater and Oakley, 1999: 14)

Creative cities CIs rely on the urbanity of cities – diversity, breakdown of tradition, spaces of mix and encounter – all lead to constant innovation Cities are also “collectivities of human activity and interest that continually create streams of public goods – that sustain the workings of the creative field” (Scott, 2001) This is an ‘urban ecology’: “those meanings that adhere to the urban landscape of the producing centre” act as a “source of input to new rounds of cultural production and commercialisation” and a “further enrichment of the urban landscape” (Scott, 2001)

Culture and regeneration Regeneration mostly viewed as physical regeneration Big regeneration projects are about culture and consumption Cultural consumption generates business, enhances property markets, and has strong image effects Limits to this – sustainability, local impact, and wider benefits to the city Content frequently ‘art’, of ‘international quality’ Used instrumentally (as part of policy / strategy) with little feeling for the actual content

Cultural industries & regeneration CIs are about sustainable production; involve engagement with ‘culture’ across a much broader spectrum Need to complement ‘consumption-led’ regeneration Issues for the support of CIs – business support infrastructure, training & education, marketing & information, finance, etc. Increasing urgency of question of urban space

CIs and space Space for creative production – diversity of provision not just high end users Private spaces with a public function – spaces of innovation and experiment CIs need space and place Should be as much an issue of ‘public goods’ as space for subsidised art Urban ecology increasingly threatened by property- led regeneration Creative cities being short changed by short-term profit

A challenge… The energies and creativity that have sustained cities in difficult times and provided the foundation for regeneration are being threatened by a one sided regeneration that is killing the spaces and places of creativity

Thank you ! Geoffrey Brown EUCLID