Negotiating distance to buzz as an important factor shaping urban residential strategies of artists

Abstract

ABSTRACT The text aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of mechanisms behind artists’ spatial, in particular residential, choices. Moving beyond the usual focus on bohemians who cluster in artistic quarters, practice a particular lifestyle or represent a specific artistic discipline, we propose that artists’ residential strategies involve a complex process of balancing between the desired extent of exposure to buzz that may be termed a negotiated reasonable distance. By developing this notion, testing it in particular urban contexts of two Polish cities and taking into consideration interactions between buzz and other factors which impact on artists’ spatial preferences and decisions, we would like to fill an important gap in research on artists as significant, recently acknowledged stakeholders of urban development. By doing so we also hope to contribute to the broader, current discussion on the importance of buzz to cities, different economic sectors and professions within them.