Creative City Research Articles

Bridging the urban-digital divide: Crowdfunding as an online middleground space

The paper attempts to provide a critique of the premise of territoriality in creative cities. A validated hypothesis in the literature on economic geography is that the density and “territoriality” of members of the so-called "creative class" influence the volume of creative goods and services produced in cities. This hypothesis gave rise to several sub-related themes, such as the premise that cities are, par excellence, a place where middleground spaces emerge because of place-based activities located in close-knit communities imbued with creativity and innovation commons. In line with this argument, recent studies have yielded an analytic framework to explain the dissemination of creativity through the so-called “middleground” spaces in cities: places, spaces, projects, and events. This framework presupposes the dissemination of creativity from the physical place to a cognitively constructed space. We revise this argument by suggesting that post-digitalized forms of creation and dissemination of knowledge often blur the boundaries between place and space (which we characterize in this paper as domains of “the local” and “the digital”). By mediating creativity through digital platforms, agents are also capable of outreaching different localities and creating ties that are not subsumed to close-knit communities. As such, our framework incorporates a “digital middleground” space into this existing “middleground” framework, thereby extending the scope of creativity in cities to digitally dispersed forms of exchange. We theorize that contemporary forms of creativity unfold openly, virtually, and non-hierarchically yet are imbued by local concerns such as the ones channeled by crowdfunding communities, which we use as an example in our discussions. Our paper contributes to a better understanding of the increasingly digitalized “urban” spaces and the impossibility of pursuing a dichotomous digital-local divide. We expect that scholars will consider the possibility for creativity to manifest not only in territorial-based middlegrounds, but also in online communities where creativity unfolds dispersedly.

Gastronomy Cities and Their Survival Strategies During the Early and Acute Stages of the Pandemic

ABSTRACT UNESCO Gastronomy Cities are the main gastronomy centers selected by UNESCO as part of The Global Creative Cities Network. This empirical study investigates how COVID-19 impacted a well-known and very well-marketed destination, Gaziantep, Turkiye during the early and acute stages of this pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the city were carried out to collect empirical data. Our research has shown that existing strategies, though important, do not serve their purpose in a devastating crisis like a pandemic as they are ineffective and fail to generate sufficient visitor interest. Adapting to prevailing trends or embodying a distinctive culture is not conducive during times of crisis. The research findings emphasize the role and importance of developing new and effective strategies and responses in gastronomy destinations during the early stages of the health crises. Several theoretical and practical implications are provided along with suggestions for future research.

The Analytic Network Process for Identifying the Potential Sub-Sectors of Creative Industry: Empirical Finding from Semarang, Indonesia

Objective: The aims of the present study is to identify the most potential sub-sector of creative industry in Semarang, Indonesia.   Theoretical Framework: The creative industry is considered to promote human development while promoting the economic growth. It maintains and protects cultural and historical heritage, foster individual and communities’ creativities, as well as improve cultural capital. Although there is widespread classification of creative industry, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has classified the creative industry into 16 sub-sectors, namely, (1) advertising, (2) application and game developers, (3) architecture, (4) craft, (5) fashion, (6) film, animation, and video, (7) fine arts, (8) gastronomy/culinary, (9) interior design, (10) music, (11) performing arts, (12) photography, (13) product design, (14) publishing, (15) TV and radio (broadcasting), and (16) visual communication design.   Methodology: The analytic network process (ANP) is used to identify the most potential sub-sector of creative industry. A case study is conducted in Semarang, a capital city of Central Java Province, Indonesia. There are four criteria to be considered, i.e., economic, technology, social, and cultural indicator. Data are collected from in-depth interviews with experts in the field of creative industry.   Results and Conclusion: According to the four criteria, it is revealed that the social indicator has the greatest weight among others with value of 0.338. Next, the fashion sub-sector is considered as the most potential sub-sector of creative industry in Semarang with the weight of 0.428. A consistency checking is also performed to test whether the answers of the experts contradict each other or not. The result shows that the value of consistency ratio is 0.049 or less than 0.1, indicating consistency.   Implication of Research: The findings of this study can provide local government with valuable insights to prioritize the most potential sub-sector to be developed to actualized Semarang as a creative city.   Originality/value: Decision-making is of vital importance as it can help management to make good decision.

The Music City: Harbin’s Re-branding and Creative City Planning

The Music City: Harbin’s Re-branding and Creative City Planning

Design-Driven Innovation in Urban Context—Exploring the Sustainable Development of City Design Weeks

As the imperative of sustainable development of cities has gained heightened attention within the global creative and cultural industries in the last decade, among all the relevant trials and practices, city design weeks are becoming a notable method offering diverse possibilities for the innovative approaches the cities could apply to their development. Therefore, the objective of the research is to understand how city design weeks facilitate urban sustainable development and how design-driven innovation is implemented in such a context. Employing a qualitative methodology, the study conducts a case study across 30 global design weeks, selected through a cross-validated process with the World Design Weeks global network and UNESCO City of Design network. Grounded in the design-driven innovation perspective, valid data from 2017 to 2022 is gathered in response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) primarily through extensive interviews, official project reports, and media communication materials. The data are further cross-analysed by adapting the Creative Cities Index into 10 indicators suitable for the context of design weeks. Among the research findings, three types of design-driven models emerge for the innovation practice of city design weeks: metropolitan integrative transformation and innovation, inclusive cultural diversity communion and innovation, and cluster incorporation and collaborative innovation. In this way, the study provides both the practical significance in terms of supporting the design week organisation by implementing suitable approaches to drive the city’s sustainable development and the theoretical significance in extending the possible adaptation of a design-driven innovation model for the urban development context. Furthermore, the limitation of this qualitative study opens avenues for future quantitative impact analyses on individual design weeks, providing applicable evaluation methods to iteratively inspect and refine the models over time, which complement the limitations of the current qualitative research.

Enchanting restaurants: innovation based on traditional food in Belém (Pará, Brazil)

The city of Belém, capital of the state of Pará (PA), located in northern Brazil, was recognized in 2015 as a Creative City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This recognition is due to the richness of the intangible cultural heritage of the cuisine of Pará, based on traditional and indigenous ways of making, allied to African and European knowledge. At the same time, participation in the Creative Cities Network presupposes cooperation between member cities, where city planning, creativity, sustainability and the encouragement of a socially fairer society are the principles that guide each one of them. In this sense, the objective of the article is to think about the act of enchantment, based on the communicative process, that restaurants promote in their customers, particularly in the city of Belém. In methodological terms, it is a qualitative and dialectical research that seeks to question and deepen knowledge, based on data collected in field research during participant observation. To conclude, we understand that the taste and mastery of traditional Pará cuisine can be restrictive as a tourist offer given the use of local products, unknown to the general public. Thus, gourmetization, the preparation of new dishes with known products and international dishes seek to complement this gastronomic offer.. However, the enchantment is not only produced from the food itself, but also from the referents and channels used by the different restaurants.

Creative economy as a space practice in the context of creative cities of the global south: the case of Poço da Draga

Creative economy as a space practice in the context of creative cities of the global south: the case of Poço da Draga

Homecoming

This article details the author’s journey through her hometown of Kuching, Sarawak, and the multisensorial experience of revisiting familial homes and key culinary heritage sites around the city. The everyday and the mundane are highlighted as key features which hold together the rich mosaic of the culinary traditions and history of Kuching. Kuching has recently been recognised as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, which acknowledges its unique blend of historical and contemporary culinary practices. This article examines what this means for a city where hawker food culture is the lifeblood of Kuching, but also where a burgeoning gastronomic scene is increasingly drawing attention on the international stage. It argues for a revaluation of the traditional binaries between local food vendors (hawkers) and professional chefs, suggesting that both contribute to the city’s culinary landscape. This approach will help form a comprehensive and inclusive understanding of Kuching as a UNESCO Creative City. It will also guide future efforts to establish sustainable and locally based food supply chains in the city.

Consuming the creative city: gastrodevelopment in a UNESCO creative city of gastronomy

ABSTRACT Scholars have recently coined the term “gastrodevelopment” to refer to the increasingly visible relationships between food, food culture, and processes of urban development. As a paradigm, gastrodevelopment is premised on the leveraging of food culture as a resource and strategy of economic development. In this article, drawing on a case study of Tucson, Arizona – the United States’ first UNESCO City of Gastronomy – we use the lens of gastrodevelopment to examine how food culture is transformed into a form of symbolic capital that animates a broader project of urban development. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, we trace how everyday food heritage, traditions, and practices are transformed into gastronomic capital in an effort to attract tourists, new residents, and investment. We show how this transformation encodes differentials of value that are racialized and racializing and risk contributing to Tucson’s geographies of uneven development. We then turn to community visions of food-based development to imagine alternative trajectories for the Creative City of Gastronomy designation and gastrodevelopment more broadly.

Guidelines for Egyptian Cities Towards Achieving Sustainable Creative Cities (Aswan as a Case Study)

The concept of the creative city is considered one of the most important contemporary trends for achieving development plans, although it arose from the beginning of the formation of human settlements since the beginning of human civilization, but the creative discourse has been developed since the end of the last century. UNESCO established the Creative Cities Network in 2005, and the classification included two Egyptian cities In the scope of crafts and folk arts - Aswan in 2005 and Cairo in 2017 - then the United Nations organization put forward the goals of sustainable development, which created a research question about the ability of cities to be sustainable. The research tended to formulate a guide to study the creative capacity of the city based on its components to achieve sustainability, and the axes and criterias of the guide were put forward and discussed with specialists and the community, Aswan was chosen because it is the city with the most momentum in the heritage components, and the guide, axes, and criteria were applied, and the results were analysed. The study concluded that Aswan has the elements that distinguish it to achieve sustainability, and it is possible to focus on positive points that help achieve the goals towards society, the economy and the environment.

Analysis of the Evaluation Criteria of UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy

Analysis of the Evaluation Criteria of UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy

THE POTENTIAL FOR RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY IN THE CREATIVE SECTOR OF THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE

The article analyzes possible opportunities of the creative economy in ensuring the stability and restoration of Ukraine, in particular its economic and human potential. Based on the analysis of the creative economy during the crisis of 2022, the author concludes that domestic creative industries provide a significant resource of stability, flexibility, and the potential for sustainable post-crisis recovery. The national creative sector has become a tool for international cultural diplomacy, consolidation, and cooperation to ensure the stability of the Ukrainian state in the face of Russian aggression. The article reveals potential opportunities for the development of the creative economy to ensure sustainable economic growth and social inclusion in the policy of recovery of Ukrainian cities, in particular, in the industrial regions of eastern Ukraine.
 The article outlines priority directions for stimulating the development of creative industries at the international, national, and local levels. The priority directions include harmonization of national legislation in the field of intellectual property to the norms of European law, overcoming disparities in the development of certain segments of the creative economy, intensification of inter-municipal cooperation at the level of national and international networks of creative cities, implementation of social inclusion programs and recovery of human potential in the creative sector.
 The author argues that the inclusion of the creative economy in the policy of ensuring sustainability and post-war recovery of Ukraine will correspond to the global trends of the post-industrial economy and the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. The further development of the policy of stimulating the development of creative industries will contribute to the strengthening of the competitiveness of the national economy as a whole and the use of the potential of the national culture to ensure the sustainable inclusive development of the Ukrainian state.

Creative Strategies for the Development of Modern Cities: Features, Essence of the Concept and Approaches to their Understanding

Introduction. Creative strategies are strategies for activating the development of urban agglomeration, built on innovative projects, usually with an emphasis on the active development of local culture, the preservation of historical heritage and experience, the development of the uniqueness of the agglomeration, and may also include the ideas of a “smart city”. In agglomerations, creative strategies are implemented according to different scenarios, since urban spaces have different cultural and infrastructural contexts. The purpose of this article is to analyze approaches to understanding creative strategies in urban planning and urban space management; to consider the experience of a number of creative cities of the Russian Federation, including the city of Krasnodar, which will allow developing a number of measures within the framework of creative strategy as the most universal and promising approach to urban creativity. Materials and Methods. The presented research is based on the results of the works of authors studying various aspects and approaches to the development and use of creative strategies within the urban environment, engaged in the search for promising universal strategies that contribute to the development of the potential of the cultural, social, economic sphere of the creative city. Diagnostics of the state of the urban cultural environment, assessment of the creative activity of the largest Russian cities, identification of threats and justification of priorities for the development of the urban creative environment are based on the use of retrospective analysis, comparison, synthesis, analogy, generalization. Results. The features of modern creative strategies based on the concept of new urbanism are identified and analyzed. A comparative characteristic of the indices of creativity of urban spaces is given, the problems of their use are analyzed. The experience of creating and implementing projects of creative urban space of Russian cities is analyzed. A comprehensive analysis of internal and external factors, significant challenges and significant threats to the active development of the creative sphere of the city of Krasnodar has been carried out, which makes it possible to develop a number of measures within the framework of the creative strategy as the most promising approach to urban creativity. Discussion and Conclusion. The study allowed us to identify approaches to understanding creative strategies based on innovative ideas, a creative approach to solving problems with an emphasis on the development of art, local culture, preservation of historical heritage and the uniqueness of urban spaces. The conclusions and suggestions of this study can be used as a universal matrix for the development of activities within the framework of a creative strategy for the development of modern urban space.

Traditional Foraged Spice, Sauce, and Egg-Painting Plants of Hatay, Türkiye: Bringing the Traditional into Commerce

In the province of Hatay in Turkey, which has been added to the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy list in recent years and has made significant progress in gastronomy tourism, answers were sought to the following questions: What kinds of change have these developments caused in traditional foraging spice/sauce uses? In the 21st century, is it still possible to introduce new herbal products from the wild into agriculture? What effects does the multi-ethnic structure have on the traditional use of spices/sauces/food coloring plants? How have the uses of spices and sauces changed over the years? In addition, what level of spice/sauce variety was obtained by foraging in this Eastern Mediterranean province? Some spices, e.g., Thymbra spicata, which were supplied by foraging, have started to be obtained through agriculture due to the increasing demand following the city's entry into the UNESCO gastronomy cities list, and have become an important income source for the city. These plants, which are brought into agriculture from the local flora, are also important as alternative agricultural products that can be easily grown with minimum agricultural input in the climate and therefore water crisis conditions our world is facing. Some unique plant usages presented here, e.g., egg painting plants used by spring fests of various ethnoreligious populations, show how different ethnoreligious populations can affect each other when living in harmony for centuries. 
 Hatay was the province that suffered the most destruction in the earthquake of February 6, 2023. We hope that this article, written just before the earthquake, will provide socio-economic guidance in the rebuilding of the city.

Higher education and sustainable creative cities: The development of creative and cultural ecosystems in the (new) capital city of Kazakhstan

This article examines the role creative and cultural higher education plays in the top-down development of Astana – the new capital of Kazakhstan. Drawing on a mapping of higher education institutions in Kazakhstan’s old (Almaty) and new capital cities as well as qualitative interview data with creative and cultural practitioners, academics and policymakers, we explore the complex relationship between the development of higher education infrastructure and the broader development of the local creative and cultural ecosystem of the new capital. By exploring challenges and opportunities surrounding these developments within the new capital city, we draw some insight regarding the sustainable development of higher education and the creative and cultural ecosystem more broadly. We find that creative and cultural higher education plays an essential role in the development of the new capital city and its opportunity to lead as a creative and cultural capital. In turn, we argue that creative and cultural HE development cannot happen in isolation but needs to be planned and carried out as part of the more comprehensive creative and cultural ecosystem development, reinforcing the local creative and cultural economy and being shaped by it. It also needs to be seen as a long-term development strategy rather than a short-term solution to jump ahead in urban hierarchies. However, we warn that wider political influences may hinder the development of a genuinely independent creative and cultural higher education system.

Enhancing Competitiveness in Indonesia's Furniture Craft Industry: A Five Porter Analysis

Indonesia's craft industry, encompassing traditional crafts such as batik printing, weaving, and furniture, plays a vital role in the nation's cultural identity. Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) are key players, propelling the growth of creative cities. Among them, the furniture industry is prominent, despite a minor dip in 2022 exports. Notably, the United States accounts for 58.5% of Indonesian furniture exports and is the main export destination. This study employs the Five Porter Analysis to explore external factors influencing the furniture craft sector. The findings emphasize the importance of ensuring a stable supply of raw materials, aligning products with international preferences, promoting sustainable resource management, fostering innovation, and navigating international trade regulations. Government support is pivotal. The results demonstrate the need for a comprehensive strategy to sustain competitiveness. It calls for capacity building, market research, and global collaboration to strengthen Indonesia's position in the international market. This research offers valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and MSMEs to enhance Indonesia's furniture craft industry's competitiveness while preserving its rich cultural heritage.

Use of mobile digital footprint to understand how COVID-19 impacts the visitors to art places in Singapore

As Singapore strengthens its position as a Creative City, the importance of art places is increasingly evident. The time and frequency of visitors spent on the art places are indications of how successful the art places are. The understanding of the footfall for art places using traditional methods, such as ticket sales, and person-count can be expensive and inaccurate. With the prevalence of mobile phone adoption, our digital footprints are silently collected. These digital footprints can be used to understand the number of visitors who have visited art places, as well as their time spent at the different art places. This data is collected by CITYDATA.ai, a geospatial AI platform and registered data broker compliant with global and regional privacy regulations. An interesting but almost unobserved trend is to understand how COVID-19 affects the visitors to art places. During this period, there could also be a fundamental shift in how people feel and react towards art places. The contribution of this paper helps planners to understand the dynamics of change for the visitors to art places and subsequently enables the planners to have the right strategies to reposition Singapore as a Creative City.

JERUSALEM, A HOLY AND CREATIVE CITY: Advisory Practices and the Grounding of Urban Mobilities within the Context of Ethnic Conflict

AbstractThis article assesses how the agency of international advisors can provide policy recommendations that, instead of introducing urban policy initiatives for multicultural encounters, sharpen political and spatial segregation within the context of ethnic conflict. The article explores the variegated nature of neoliberalization and argues that the adoption of strategic planning and creativity discourses enables the development of a sophisticated political rationale for governing ethnic diversity. The analysis focuses on a range of advisory practices—including the role played by Michael Porter at the Harvard Business School and Richard Florida at the Creative Class Group in advising former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat—in order to understand the dynamics of grounding imaginaries concerning a neoliberal role for the state and the depoliticization of the public sphere in a disputed city. By surveying official policy documents, journalistic interviews and two reports submitted by Porter and Florida to Barkat, the author examines how the branding of Jerusalem as a creative city involved managerial practices that classified the city's diverse population according to categories of creative and non‐creative labor rather than political subjects. The adoption of such discourses facilitated a novel approach for enhancing the state‐building ethno‐nationalistic project while at the same time reproducing the dynamics of occupation and annexation.

Creative economy: evolution of approaches to the formation of the concept

Methods. The research presented in the article was based on the application of such general scientific methods of scientific research as: logical and historical – when considering the evolution of views on the essence of the concept of «creative economy» and identifying the stages of its formation; general and specific – when identifying the characteristic features that distinguish the creative economy from other types of economic systems; analysis and synthesis – when forming a categorical series of related concepts. Results. The article traces the evolution of views on the essence of the concept of «creative economy». The historical path of distinguishing this concept from the understanding of the content of the actual sphere of creative activity of people and creative professions, cultural industries, the change of the concept to creative industries and the emergence of the term «creative cities» is demonstrated. These studies are summarized and assigned to the first, preparatory stage of the study. The second stage is singled out in view of the work on identifying the essential features of the creative economy, forming ideas about its structure and providing its first definition. Novelty. The historical process of the evolution of theoretical-methodological approaches to the categorical design of the concept of «creative economy» is shown, with the identification of two stages that reflect the gradual departure from the understanding of culture and creativity as a separate sphere of society’s functioning and the establishment of its perception as an important component of human economic activity. Practical value. The results of the research can be useful for scientists who conduct research on the essence of the creative economy and work on the formation of its categorical design.

Comparative study of the urban areas of Bandar Mahshahr from the perspective of creative city indicators

Comparative study of the urban areas of Bandar Mahshahr from the perspective of creative city indicators