Bohemian Cultural Scenes and Creative Development of Chinese Cities: An Analysis of 65 Cities Using Cultural Amenity Data

Hao Zheng,Jun Wu,Terry Nichols Clark,Tong Wang

doi:10.3390/su13095260

Hao Zheng, Jun Wu + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095260

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Abstract

There has been a cultural turn in urban development, as an increasing number of scholars are stressing the importance of culture in urban research and policy agendas. Specifically, the bohemian cultural scene could drive an integral cultural policy approach between the cultural scenes city and the creative city approach. Based on amenities data from 65 major Chinese cities, this paper investigates the relationship between bohemian cultural scenes and creative development of Chinese cities as well as regional differences using tree-based model, ordinary least squares (OLS) and truncated regression, and provides conceptual and quantitative support for a bohemian cultural scenes policy. Factor analysis suggests the bohemian cultural scene in Chinese cities consists of two dimensions: self-expression and charisma. According to regression results, bohemian scenes significantly promote urban creative development; specifically, charisma has a stronger impact on urban creativity than self-expression. There are also significant regional differences: northern and eastern cities should focus on the development of the charismatic dimension, creative subjects should adjust away from prudent industriousness and practice dynamic experimentalism; whereas southern cities should focus on the self-expressive dimension, and continue to promote tolerance, inclusivity and expressive practice. Finally, the bohemian scenes policy demands an integral policy approach sensitive to the existing socioeconomic context: policymakers should incorporate specific amenities into existing qualities of local spaces and cultural consumption to stimulate creative development.

Highlights

China experienced exponential growth in urban development in the past few decades, as its urbanization rate increased from 17.9% in 1978 to 60.6% in 2019
The results indicate that the information extraction ratios contained in the 27 variables were all higher than 70%, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.950
The bohemian scene is a special type of cultural scene that could drive an integral cultural policy approach between the city as a “cultural scene” and the creative city approach [18]

Summary

Introduction

China experienced exponential growth in urban development in the past few decades, as its urbanization rate increased from 17.9% in 1978 to 60.6% in 2019. As the key driver of urban development gradually shifts from industrial production to creativity and innovation [1,2,3,4], China’s urban policy is facing new challenges. In China and more generally in East Asia, urban innovation is based on local competition led by the government [5], which is related to the creativity of local industries and talents, but is closely related to the government’s development strategy and cultural planning [6]. Household registration policies have played a key role in attracting creative talents in Chinese cities. The government has employed policies to support small businesses through public services and credit guarantees, which enhances local creative development. In the new era of global urban development, could traditional developmental and redistribution policies that rely largely on the allocation

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