Can the ‘creative city’ be sustainable? Lessons from the Sant Martí district (Barcelona)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The urban transformations of many contemporary cities have been articulated around the concepts of ‘culture-led regeneration’ and ‘creative city’. However, the implemented policies often fall far short of the initial expectations. In fact, they have been linked to negative effects such as gentrification, polarisation of the labour market, casualization of the cultural sector and the commoditization of the creative process and the trivialisation of heritage assets. Given this reality, it is appropriate to inquire whether culture and creativity can become the driving forces behind a sustainable regeneration – i.e. materially, economically, socioculturally and environmentally viable in the long term – without leading to such undesired outcomes. The paper addresses this issue through the examination of Sant Martí –Barcelona’s historic industrial cluster. This district has undergone a culture-led regeneration that in the last two decades has been closely tied to the principles of the ‘creative city’. Given that Sant Martí has curbed some of the negative effects commonly attributed to this approach, I analyse what variables have enabled this particularity and connect them with what I have called BFSs (Basic Factors of Sustainability). I establish that certain variables can bring the ‘creative city’ closer to the ‘sustainable city’.