1. Formation of the Creative Economy and Creative Spaces in the City
Cities of Russia 2030: Crossroads of Opportunities Yekaterinburg, November 16th 2017
Formation of the Creative Economy and Creative Spaces in the City
Justin O’Connor
Monash University

2. Why CIs in Cities High levels of human input
Dynamic of ideas in the city
Economies of scale in skills and knowledge
Complex divisions of labour
Projects done by fluid teams of creatives organised around trust, reputation and ‘soft skills’ of teamwork

3. Cluster Theory
Clusters come from a complex set of sources and interpreted in different ways
Clusters about locality and embedded knowledge – not just agglomeration but ‘atmosphere’.
Initially used to identify why certain places persisted over time and adapted.
1990s: a way of pro-actively creating such areas.

4. Cluster Applications
Urban Regeneration City Branding Cultural/ Creative Industries Frequent confusion of activity mix and overall objectives

5. Creative Industries
Definition – what is not creative? Economic rationale crowds out the cultural Failure to take care of socio-cultural milieu Winner takes all accelerating (FAANG/ Alibaba, Tencent) Financialisation accelerates Gentrification Innovation capture by management/ investors.

6. Creative Clusters
Geographic concentrations of creative industries which act to “pool together resources into networks and partnerships to cross-stimulate activities, boost creativity and realise economies of scale.” (UNESCO 2006)

7. Designing Creative Clusters
Creative clusters are less ‘spontaneous’ and more planned/ designed.
We therefore need a better understanding of how they work.

8. Grew up in cities without planning ‘Bottom up’
Organic clusters
Grew up in cities without planning ‘Bottom up’

9. Soho, London

10. Soho, London

11. Lower East Side, New York

12. Lower East Side, New York

13. Bario Alto, Lisbon

14. Bario Alto, Lisbon

15. Bario Alto, Lisbon

16. Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK

17. Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK

18. Northern Quarter, Manchester UK

19. Paris

20. Paris

21. Hoxton, London

22. Jeff Koons (Hoxton)

23. White Cube, Hoxton

24. Fitzroy, Melbourne

25. Fitzroy, Melbourne

26. The Valley, Brisbane

27. Planned clusters
Interest by real estate companies and by local government policy led to more planned clusters. Old industrial buildings: cheaper to refurbish – provide ‘atmosphere’.

28. Westergasfabrik, Amsterdam

29. Kulturbrauerei, Berlin

30. La Friche, Marseilles

31. La Friche, Marseilles

32. La Friche, Marseilles

33. Santral, Istanbul

34. Santral, Istanbul

35. Santral, Istanbul

36. Witte Dame, Eindhoven

37. Vinzavod, Moscow

38. Vinzavod, Moscow

39. Vinzavod, Moscow

40. Garage, Moscow

41. Cable Factory, Helsinki, Finland

42. Cable Factory, Helsinki, Finland

43. Cable Factory, Helsinki, Finland

44. NDSM, Amsterdam

45. NDSM, Amsterdam

46. NDSM, Amsterdam

47. Cities are acting
Agreements with developers for temporary cultural use
Work flexibly with artists who occupy empty spaces
‘Breeding spaces’: new developments have live and work space for artists and creative industries
Planners and architects ‘curate’ new urban spaces to provide flexible space for small-scale artists and creative industries.

48. Creative Clusters Clusters remain central policy focus
“Geographic concentration of cultural and creative industries”
Mix of public and private, profit and not-for profit, subsidised and commercial, production and consumption.

49. Designing Creative Clusters
Soft Infrastructure New Media Urban Networks

50. Soft Infrastructure
In economics this tends to mean the legal and regulatory environment.

51. Soft Infrastructure
Also concerned with that soft infrastructure that relates to the innovative milieu and creative clusters.
Spaces and practices, memory and social/ cultural capital, institutional form and local cultures in which creative production and consumption takes place.

52. Soft Infrastructure
The success of creative clusters depends as much on their ‘soft infrastructure’ as on their ‘hard infrastructure’

53. Purpose Built Clusters
Often ignore ‘soft infrastructure’ essential for creative industries

54. A New Model
We have to know more about how clusters work, why some are successful and others not. There is a growing need for a flexible model or set of guidelines which can inform the planning, design and on-going management decisions of purpose built clusters.

55. Bootstrap tom fleming / creative consultancy Dalston, London
Social Enterprise
Mission-driven
Impact-focused
Mix of rents
Cross-art-form
Cross-sector
Production & Consumption.
tom fleming / creative consultancy

56. Soft Infrastructure Qualities of Place: Atmosphere and identity
Mix of users
Range of activities and events
Services and management

57. Soft Infrastructure Qualities of Space:
Design of public, private and ‘in-between’ spaces
Choice of (not )meeting others
Management of public access
Clear identification of different user needs

58. Soft Infrastructure
Needs to be built on involvement of creative wider sphere Not opposed to ‘global’ but needs capacity to absorb and respond. This capacity is growing – but peripheral to operations of clusters and large CI groups Big investment producing growth – but when it stops? Where will local creative milieu find sustainable markets?

59. Clusters/ Milieu (occupants)
transfer of tacit knowledge through informal learning;
efficient sourcing skills and information;
competition-collaboration of complementary business producing learning and efficiency effects;
development of inter-cluster trading, networking and joint projects;
inspiration by proximity;
common branding and identification;

60. Clusters/ Milieu (Management, Policy)
delivery of common services – from utilities (internet, telephone) to business support, training and industry events;
allow targeted application of industry development policies
cross-subsidy or government support allows cheaper rents or other benefits for small companies and entrepreneurs;
common branding and identification;

61. Clusters/ Milieu - Urbanistic
The contribution to and benefit from a nearby ‘innovative urban milieu’
But: Gentrification debates, now central

62. New Media

63. Physical and Digital
Built form and ‘serendipity’ - Milieu as ‘sagacity’
Post-digital:
Materiality of co-presence and trust;
Making visible, taking a step;
Changing function of workspace;
Changing configuration of workspace;

64. Post-Digital Urbanism
Innovative spatial practices around sharing and utilising of urban and public spaces through the use of digital devices, communication and data;  
Public displays and installations to entertain and inform, including programmable building facades, public digital art interventions and programmable screens in shared spaces;
New forms of urban participation, co-creation and co-design;
Support, marketing and communication of local talent, creativity and ventures;
Flexible creative work patterns enabled by digital communication and effective shared utilisation of spaces, facilities and resources, including shared ambient intelligence emerging from networks

65. New Technologies
The potential of creative clusters is now linked to their adoption of information and communication technologies as essential components of this ‘soft infrastructure’.

66. New Media and the City Urban screens, Wi Fi, 3G/4G,
Interactive public art
Ubiquitous urban computing
Significant implications for the way we use cities and clusters.

67. New Urban Media
Cities beginning to use cultural data to enhance our sense of public space and place identity.
How can these can be used enhance the soft infrastructures of clusters.

68. Physical/ Digital
How do the physical and digital change the design and management of clusters?

69. Urban Network Technologies
Transformed the business models and working practices of creative industries What role can clusters have when creative workers can operate in a more dispersed areas?

70. Clusters and Urban Networks
Clusters part of urban networks
Connections inside and between clusters; and between clusters and the wider urban space
These connections transformed by new media technologies and applications.

71. Clusters and Cities How do clusters relate to the wider urban milieu?
How can clusters become ‘drivers’ within the wider urban ecology?

72. Evaluation
Develop indicators which can be used to assess the ‘health’ of individual clusters;

73. Evaluation
Develop indicators which can be used in spatial analysis (see mapping);
Develop methods allowing us to model the different dimensions of ‘soft infrastructure’ in clusters and their urban environment;
Develop indicators of sustainable and livable creative ecosystems.

74. 1. Diversity
Diversity within a sector: is a full range of functions present from the the whole ‘value-chain’?
Diversity between sectors: is there a wide spectrum of creative industry activities
Diversity of activity: to what extent is there a production and consumption mix?
Diversity of offer: does the cluster attract a wide range (age, class, lifestyle, ethnicity, gender) of a) producers and b) consumers?

75. 2. Identity Does the cluster have clear offer or identity. Producers:
Identification with a particular sector or kind of industry (audio-visual, new media) or values (‘street’, arty, entrepreneurial).
Does it have a strong visual/ design identity

76. 2. Identity
Consumers:
Identification with a particular sector or kind of industry (audio-visual, new media) or values (‘street’, arty, entrepreneurial).
Does it have a strong visual/ design identity
Does it attract a particular kind of person.

77. 3) Interactivity and Collaboration
 Do businesses feel they interact with other businesses – socially and professionally
Do they feel that the space/ management/ atmosphere encourages interaction
What levels and kinds of collaboration take place
Do businesses feel they learn from other businesses

78. 4. Embeddedness
Surrounding activities and institutions: is it near a cultural, entertainment or retail district; or a university, art school etc.
Connectedness to local area; is there interaction between those in the cluster and the immediate area – for business or social reasons (for example, people in M50 do not have much activity in the immediate neighborhood);
Interconnection with other clusters: are there any links with other clusters nearby or further away?
Use by wider creative community: do they organize events; do creative use just retail function to sell; do they use it to socialize; is there a virtual network (M50 have an artists on-line community).

79. 5. Voice Do they feel their voice is heard by management;
Do they feel their views are marginal with respect to others in the cluster (‘noise’)
Can they only chose ‘exit’ rather than voice
Do they want a voice

80. 4 layers
Digital
Physical
Socio-cultural
Operational/ economic