Social Creativity and Place (Re)production: Tarbiat Pedestrian Route in Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Purpose This article explores the role of creativity and its aspects in urban environments by tackling the issue of place (re)production based on a particular interpretation of creativity as an “everyday” and “social” phenomenon. The paper gives theoretical evidence for the relationship between place (re)production and social aspects of creativity. Design/Methodology/Approach The study benefited from a review on both subjects of social creativity and place (re)production to find out their relationship and how they can be expressed in an urban space design process. Tarbiat pedestrian route in Tabriz, Iran was chosen as a case study. Based on the proposed conceptual model, a thematic content analysis was carried out on the qualitative data collected in 2019 from the Tarbiat pedestrian route using Atlas.ti.06 software with regard to the dimensions of creative (re)production of place. Findings The main achievement of this article is development of an original conceptual framework for applying 1) social creativity as an effective factor in (re)production of place, and 2) the findings in a practical context. Research Limitations/Implications The main limitations of this research include the time constraints of accomplishing a qualitative research, the limited number of previous studies on the topic and the lack of samples qualifying as a case study. Social/Practical Implications This article is based on the concept of creativity as a social phenomenon that involves ordinary, unplanned, and collective creative acts of individuals, as well as urban place formation as a socio-spatial process, in which social context plays an important role. Also, according to the results, incentives of social creativity in the (re)production of the place are closely associated with the active role of the users and their enthusiasm to participate in design processes. Originality/Value This research focuses on an urban regeneration initiative to show how an appropriate context for mobilizing actors, bringing them together and shaping a more creative urban space is achieved by conscious level of place (re)production through inspired and gradual expert-oriented interventions, and the unconscious level of (re)production through the everyday shared experiences of people.