Clarifying creativity and culture in a small city on the Canadian periphery: challenges and opportunities in Greater Sudbury

Abstract

Introduction In the last decade, we have seen increasing attention in academic and policy circles paid to the role of culture and creativity in economic growth. Much of this research starts from the assumption that economic inputs have shifted away from natural resources and physical capital towards the importance of human capital and the creation of new knowledge and innovations (Cooke and Leydesdorff 2006; Cooke et al. 2007; David and Foray 2003; Martin 2007; Boekema et al. 2000; Courchene 2001; Sands and Reese 2008; Florida 2002a). As Allen Scott (2004: 466) argues, ‘[i]n many metropolitan areas, cultural-products industries are a principal element of the economy, and they are typically growing with great rapidity . . .’. Scott (2000, 2004) describes this ‘cultural economy’ as a variety of culture-production industries supplying services and manufacturing outputs like music, film, fashion and jewelry. In the ‘creative economy’, Richard Florida emphasizes the importance of occupations in media, film, fashion, music, advertising, architecture and design along with various high-technology sectors such as information and computer technology as significant economic generators. He also argues that economic inputs are dependent on the talent of a ‘creative class’,1 ‘whose economic function is to generate new ideas, new technologies and/or creative output’ (Florida 2002a: 8). This emphasis on culture and creativity has translated into economic growth strategies aimed at encouraging innovation, attracting highly skilled workers, and promoting quality of place. However, most of this research on the cultural and creative economy has focused largely on big cities in core regions. These are the places cited as the obvious spaces where innovation, creativity, and culture thrive (Florida 2002a, 2005; Gertler et al. 2002). Although this perception understandably recognises the important role of large cities, it tends to undermine the value of the vast periphery of smaller cities and towns that exist outside these core regions. As a result, many small, peripheral cities are often ignored in academic and policy research (Hayter et al. 2003; Hayter 2005), or, even worse, depicted as dull places primarily challenged by youth out-migration, relatively homogeneous populations, and often resource dependency. More importantly,the applicability and content of creativity-led economic growth strategies has been called into question for smaller and more peripheral cities. Drawing on research we conducted for Ontario in the Creative Age,2 this chapter challenges the prevailing perception that small, peripheral cities are uninteresting and insignificant spaces in the contemporary economy. We further argue that economic growth strategies in smaller cities need to be tied to the inherent challenges and opportunities that exist. Using key informant interviews3 and policy document analysis from Greater Sudbury, located in Northern Ontario, Canada, we argue that despite its challenges and contrary to perceptions, this city offers unique opportunities for more innovative economic growth strategies especially in the areas of remote health care, animation and film, and high-tech mining. In addition to providing case studies on innovative enterprises, we explore the challenges and opportunities of a creative or cultural economic growth strategy for small cities in the periphery. We conclude with a discussion on the importance of place-based policy distinctions.