Multicologies? The development of multi-racial creative ecologies in East London

Abstract

ABSTRACT In post-industrial economies, the creative industries have become major drivers of urban transformation. However, industry reports show that racialised minorities remain underrepresented in the UK’s creative industries. In this context, East London’s growing number of creative-industries hubs run the risk of re-inscribing existing patterns of racial exclusion onto the urban topography. In this article, I utilise analytical models drawn from the study of the creative industries and urban sociology to examine how racialised inequality in the creative sectors can become spatialised in an urban setting. I argue that East London’s regeneration process is largely structured by discourses of institutional ‘diversity’ that have historically failed to deliver greater levels of inclusion in the sphere of creative production. In this context, I point to the need for multicultural creative networks and production hubs, that I term ‘multicologies’, where racialised practitioners from complementary sectors of the creative industries can be spatially concentrated.