‘Creative Industry Clusters’ and the ‘Entrepreneurial City’ of Shanghai

Abstract

This article evaluates the impact of ‘creative industry clusters’ on urban entrepreneurialism in Shanghai. It aims to introduce the concept of ‘creative industry clusters’ into the discussion of the ‘entrepreneurial city’ in China by testing two main arguments regarding the role of creative industry clusters, and to develop the concept of entrepreneurial city in China. The major argument is that, although these clusters are playing an important role in upgrading the city’s entrepreneurial features particularly in attracting business, they have made a limited contribution to fostering talent or boosting creative industry entrepreneurship. Three features of the entrepreneurial city of Shanghai are: the government’s stance of attracting capital and professionals; the continuation of urban commodification in character; and, the innovativeness of diversified forms of urban commodities within current urban policies. Such new forms of commodities, however, do not serve as new strategies designed specifically for creative industries.