Emerging challenges of an urban creative economy: reflections on the governance of creative clusters in Taipei City

ABSTRACT

Retaining the global mobile creative class has been considered a crucial strategy for driving creative economic development in inner cities. However, implementing the global creative city strategy overemphasizes the significance of amenity-based creative economic landscapes over institutional collaborations in contributing to the situated governance dynamics of creative clusters. Drawing on insights from an evolutionary perspective, this paper scrutinizes the extent to which creative city strategies foster the situated development of creative clusters based on a case study of Taipei. The paper argues that developing the urban creative economy requires a context-specific understanding of the urbanization process, and should involve an institutional collaboration to articulate the socio-spatial co-evolution between the diversified dynamics of creative clusters and urban form. This paper advocates reflexive thinking on neoliberal city strategies to develop a conjunctive, diverse and substantial creative policy to support alternative paths of creative city development.     

Urban Restructuring of Istanbul

After 1980s, the major cities of Turkey have experienced urban transformation process following the changes in the international trade policy and the impact of globalization. Istanbul took the highest amount of share from these transformation processes as being the most important economic, cultural and tourism centre and the most integrated centre to the world economy of the country. This paper describes Istanbul's historical development, investigates demographic profile and spatial distribution of employment and illustrates multi-centre development of the city. Decentralization of population and jobs illustrate the multi-centre development. Multi-centre development contributes to sustainable urban development which provides efficient energy use and prevents pollution. Istanbul having a long history, large population and being in a very strategic location between Asia and Europe greatly effected from globalization which is reflected in its transformation of urban structure and increased land values and thus offered great opportunities for the real estate investors. The role of Istanbul within the world hierarchy of cities is suggested for further research.     

创造阶层与城市可持续发展

随着知识经济的发展和经济全球化,人才资源(人力资本)成为第一资源,以人为本,重视人力资本特别是创造型人才并发挥其创新作用,是城市可持续发展及竞争力的根源和保证。创造阶层理论为城市可持续发展发现了新道路。创造阶层的兴起将深刻地影响城市的可持续发展,中国城市应当采取措施兴起创造阶层。城市可以通过规划建设提高人居环境质量、增加城市便利性,通过制度创新扩展人的自由、提供创新的制度环境,而积累人力资本特别是兴起创造阶层,从根本上增强城市可持续发展能力。     

Building Localized Interactions Between Universities and Cities Through University Spatial Development

Universities are important players in the global development of knowledge economy, alongside being significant contributors to the economic development of their host cities. They are both significant knowledge enterprises and the suppliers of the human and intellectual capital on which the knowledge-based economy depends. What seems under-explored is how deliberative partnerships between universities and city authorities can develop around projects of mutual benefit, especially based on campus development. In this paper, with the help of five case studies (QUT, MIT, Harvard, Twente and Newcastle universities), we investigate how the spatial development of universities can be one of the main meeting points between the city and university and how it can be used for stimulating economic development and managing growth. These cases show that university—city collaborative initiatives focused on the university properties represent a desire to produce creative and competitive new urban spaces, which reinforce the position of the university and the city in global economy. They also show that these developments need to be jointly managed to avoid undesirable impacts on either side.     

全球城市的研究脉络、理论论争与前沿领域

全球城市是控制和影响全球政治经济文化的枢纽型城市。系统梳理中外全球城市研究热点、理论争论及研究领域演化,比较东西方全球城市研究视角提出新国际形势下全球城市研究前沿及其可能范式。研究发现：①全球城市被分为超全球城市、新兴全球城市及全球城市国家三类,重点探讨了全球城市的起源与概念、成长机理与类型划分、规模—网络—等级和专业化分工等;②中国学界从引介世界城市概念及其识别指标、形成机制等领域逐渐转向全球城市的功能与作用、比较与评价、培育策略等。③新全球化形势下全球城市研究应关注尺度（政治）与全球城市构建、动力、制度与培育实践导向三层次展望提出世界形势变革背景下全球城市研究重点。     

Urban transformation in Istanbul and Budapest: Neoliberal governmentality in the EU's semi-periphery and its limits

By discussing the variety and variability of urban neoliberal governmentality and its limits in the semi-periphery of the advanced capitalist world, the article aims to explore the embeddedness of neoliberalism at the dawn of the new millennium. Cities that are increasingly becoming parts of the global economy, despite being on the periphery of advanced capitalism, host a myriad of diverse forms of neoliberal governmentality in terms of spatial change. Although responding with enthusiasm to the increasing mobility of capital and the internationalization of investments through gentrification plans, the current transformative efforts of Istanbul and Budapest under two conservative governments indicate, for instance, the re-invention of authoritarianism so that these cities serve the purposes of their national leaders. This development signals a hybrid form of governmentality that combines neoliberalism with illiberal logics and manifests similar processes in different locations despite disparities in scale, local needs and characteristics. The article further argues that since such urban transformations take place within the neo-conservative leaders' battles to acquire cultural and social capital, they create potential to make both metropolises the new rebel cities of Europe, albeit with divergent levels of resistance.     

西部9省会大城市综合竞争力的分析与研究

城市竞争力已成为当代关注和研究的焦点。在西部大开发战略背景下,探讨西部9省会大城市的综合竞争力尤为重要。本文选取42个指标作为西部地区9省会大城市综合竞争力评价的原始指标,运用因子多变量统计分析法对42个指标数据进行分析处理,得到5个公因子。在此基础上计算出西部地区9省会大城市综合竞争力的综合得分,进行分析和排序,最后对9个大城市进行简单地概括评价。     

Internet Domains and the Innovativeness of Cities/Regions--Evidence from Germany and Munich

This paper focuses on the factors determining a region's ability to produce Internet content and tries to identify relationships with the role of the same region in the national and global economy. The number of .de-domains is used to measure Internet content production, which serves as an indicator for the innovativeness of the regions in an emerging part of the service economy. Data used for the spatial distribution of .de-domains (1.2 million names at the end of 1999) is original and has not been published before. In the first part of the paper the development of the number of Internet domain names in German regions is described and independent variables to explain the spatial structure are analysed. Results show that those variables that are associated with potentials to create and commercialize new knowledge are especially suited to explain the regions' relative frequencies in domain name counts. However, no single hypothesis alone is able to explain the spatial structure of .de-domains, rather a mixture of factors indicating external economies, creation of knowledge and highly qualified labour is best. The knowledge and attitude of these individuals is crucial for the adaptation and diffusion of an innovation like the Internet. Thus, the Internet does not create new regions but it replicates, at least in Germany, the well-known ranking of regions in terms of high-tech. Concerning high-tech industries and knowledge-intensive services, Munich has stood at the top of German regions for about 15 years; this region will be analysed in the second part of the paper. Munich's national and global competitiveness depends mainly, as for other regions, on the innovativeness of its firms, research institutions, and people. The capability of Internet domain names as an indicator for regional innovativeness is the better the younger this innovation is. Despite the rather decentralized spatial structure of Germany (see the very low primacy index), compared, e.g. with the UK and France, Munich stands out in terms of the number of domain names. Munich's role in the national and global economy is supported by the early adoption of the Internet by the local firms and private users - and vice versa! If one considers the Internet as a basic innovation in the sense of Schumpeter's long wave approach then new combinations of resources in new or old regions can lead to strong national growth, but attended by increasing disparities between regions within the respective nation. We may distinguish two driving forces: the Internet as the basic innovation and the export of the respective content production to other parts of the global economy. Munich serves as a proof for the hypothesis that regions with a large potential of Internet production are also able to export these contents into other parts of the world. Zook's work on regional economic impacts of the Internet on US regions shows that regions with above-average Internet content production and marketing activities do profit significantly from the multiplicator and spin-off-effects of the related exports. Thus, although information can be distributed by the Internet in very short time to all places in the world, it nevertheless produces uneven economic landscapes (and in part manifest the old landscape) that sees the regions with strong Internet content production in a much better position than regions where the Internet consumption prevails, although this still has to be analysed for German regions.     

城市发展指数指引下的我国收缩区域初步评判

城市收缩在全球范围内蔓延，致使以增长为假设前提的区域经济增长模型受到极大挑战。本文以县域单元为研究对象，利用2000年与2010年各县域单元的社会经济数据构建城市发展指数，在其指引下对我国城市收缩状况做初步分析。研究表明：①在城市化的快速进程中，我国县域单元出现收缩现象，特别是县、自治县、自治旗、旗出现较多数量的收缩。②发生收缩的县域单元共261个，大多数为人口较少的中小城镇；西部地区分布较多，且收缩面积较大。③收缩的县级行政区表现出一些共性特征：人口数量和密度下降、老龄化加深、医疗卫生条件较差、经济发展缓慢，财政赤字严重。这一结果有助于初步了解我国收缩区域整体格局，并呼吁研究者和政策制定者尽快针对这一问题展开研究，促进区域可持续发展。     

创意城市经营战略之研究——以欧洲三城市为例

21世纪是知识经济的世纪,不论在全球商业竞争市场亦或是区域、城市间的竞赛,高度的知识发展将成为致胜的关键因素。城市是人类知识、创造力、创新荟萃的空间场域,然并非每一个城市都能成为创意城市;本文除了探讨知识经济对城市发展的影响,同时从城市历史与理论的观点,回顾创意城市的发展概念,分析创意城市的潜在要素包括:聚集性(Concentration)、多样性(Diversity)、不稳定性(Instability)以及正面的声誉(Positive Reputation),并检视欧洲三个城市政策发展经验。研究显示:欧洲地方政府将城市政策作为发展地区知识经济的重要支撑。而地方政府决策者应扮演为城市在知识经济中作准备的角色,地方政府应致力于增加城市创造力浮现的机会,并提供城市适当且完善的基层架构条件。     

The Impact of Neutral and Nonneutral Productivity Growth on Creative Capital in a Trading Regional Economy. 区域经济贸易中中性和非中性生产力增长对创新资本的影响

We analyze a two‐sector model of a trading creative regional economy (TCRE) of the sort studied by Florida. Our analysis focuses on two cases. The first case concerns the impact of faster neutral, whereas the second case concerns the impact of faster nonneutral, productivity growth in the tradable sector on the employment of creative people in each of a TCRE's two sectors. In both cases, the sign of the percentage change in the steady‐state use of creative capital in the nontradable sector is ambiguous. In other words, the potential departure of creative people from the tradable to the nontradable sector does not depend upon whether the faster productivity growth being studied is neutral or nonneutral. In addition, because the effects of faster productivity growth in the tradable sector are not necessarily innocuous, a potential role exists for activist policy designed to countermand the possibly negative effects of faster productivity growth on either the tradable or the nontradable sector. This finding of possible “uneven development” is consistent with Florida's view that TCREs can give rise to externalities such as uneven regional development.     

洛杉矶:从地区性中心城市到全球性城市的研究

本文回顾了在当今美国乃至世界城市中占有重要位置的城市--洛杉矶从地区性中心城市到全球性城市的发展历程,探讨了洛杉矶崛起的原因。通过对这一典型案例的历史考察和综合分析,作者力图揭示出全球性城市形成中的一些具有普遍意义的启示。     

Creativity,Culture and Urban Strategies: A Fallacy in Cultural Urban Strategies

Two fields of knowledge have been of special importance for the emergence of culture-led urban planning in Norwegian cities: one concerns the understanding of the potential of culture as an economic driving force in urban regeneration, while the other focuses on the emergence of the concept of the “creative class” and has drawn attention to the importance of competence and creativity in urban development. Despite clear connections between the two fields, it may appear that false connections have been made in regeneration strategies in a number of cities. Based on analyses of the culture-led urban strategy of Kristiansand, a small Norwegian city, these knowledge fields are discussed and it is claimed that there seems to be a fallacy in how they are treated in the culture-led urban strategy. The fallacy concerns the way that creativity is equated with culture and further how theories about the emergence of the creative class are equated with a culture industry approach to urban planning. Questions are raised about the potential of culture industry strategies and it is argued that the potential for growth in small cities may not be as great as the public debate and research conducted in large metropolises might suggest.     

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN THE NETHERLANDS: STRUCTURE, DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATIVENESS AND EFFECTS ON URBAN GROWTH

Creativity is central in stimulating economic growth in cities, regions and advanced capitalist economies in general. There is, of course, no one-to-one relation of the number of firms in creative industries to economic growth. Innovation is a key mechanism explaining the relationship of creative industries with economic performance. Based on an empirical study in the Netherlands we explore the effect of creative industries on innovation, and ultimately on employment growth in cities. In the Netherlands the three specific domains of creative industries - arts, media and publishing, and creative business services - make up 9 per cent of the business population. Drawing on survey data we find that firms in creative industries are indeed relatively innovative. Yet substantial differences are found across the three domains: firms in the arts domain are clearly less innovative, most likely due to a different (less market-oriented) dominant ideology. In addition, firms in creative industries located in urban areas are more innovative than their rural counterparts. We go on to analyse how the concentration of creative industries across cities is connected with employment growth. With the exception of the metropolitan city of Amsterdam, we find no measurable spill-over effect from creative industries. The presence of the creative class (in all kinds of industries other than creative ones) appears to be a much stronger driver of employment growth than creative industries.     

Cinema-going during the Gezi protests: claiming the right to the Emek movie theatre and Gezi Park

This paper explores the relationship between social movements, urban regeneration programmes and media outlets in cities, with a focus on the transformation of urban culture in regards to people’s engagement with the spaces of media platforms. The argument is based on the study of cinema-going practices of an audience community in Istanbul, during and preceding the Gezi uprising. By employing ethnographic methods, this paper interrogates the activism of an audience community against the impact of shopping-mallisation and commodification of Istanbul’s urban spaces under AKP rule. In order to reclaim ownership of their spaces and future, this audience community claimed their right to the Emek movie theatre, Gezi Park and other parks whilst creating their own outdoor screenings and social media platforms. This paper also provides an interpretation of social movement development attached to media outlets such as film festivals and screenings, particularly the development of spatial activism in relation to people’s use of films, streets and movie theatres, thus illustrating, challenging and reinforcing rights to the city. More broadly, it gives new insights on the film and protest culture of a ‘secular’ group within a predominantly Muslim population and shows alternative and creative methods of protesting during a popular uprising.     

全球化时代的城市大事件营销效应:基于空间生产视角

在全球竞争时代,大事件营销已经成为城市政府实现增长策略的重要工具。文章引入空间生产的分析视角,对城市大事件营销的物质空间效应、社会空间效应、经济与政治效应进行了客观的评述,这些影响有正面的,也有负面的,从而揭示了通过大事件营销实现城市空间生产过程的本质。文章指出,大事件营销成为城市在全球化流动空间中增强对资本等发展要素粘性的重要媒介,实现了从流动空间向场所空间的转变,对城市的空间、经济、社会与政治关系等都产生着深刻的重塑作用。但是,更加关注如何将外向增长机遇与城市内生增长能力进行更好的结合,是非常必要的。     

Change in the Innovation Process: New Knowledge Production and Competitive Cities--The Case of Stuttgart

The global integration of economic activities is bringing with it major changes in innovation processes. New kinds of innovation, such as service and organizational innovations, became increasingly important in the 1990s. The shift to new forms of knowledge creation reflects the emerging knowledge based economy. This has effects on the existing comparative advantages of metropolitan innovation systems and is a major challenge to the ability of cities to adjust, especially those in mature industrial sectors whose competitiveness is based on innovations in industrial technology and scientific and technological knowledge production. Stuttgart is one of these cities. Much of the comparative innovative strength of the Stuttgart region derives from the generation of synergy effects of its technological and institutional development paths. The high levels of industrial exports and the competitiveness of the global players in the Stuttgart region indicates how advantageous the technology based knowledge production and diffusion in the region has been for the innovativeness of the core industrial branches. The crisis at the start of the 1990s showed that the economic success of particular firms does not mean that the metropolitan region as a whole is innovative and competitive. The institutional structures used to establish and maintain the comparative innovative advantages of the industrial sector have hindered adjustment to new forms of knowledge production and diffusion. The paper examines the adjustment processes in the Stuttgart region which are changing the organization of innovation and learning in a way that makes it receptive to new forms of knowledge production and diffusion.     

On National Heritage,Grand Narratives,and ‘Making History Fun’: Founders’ Hall,Prince Edward Island and the Story of Canada

Cities in developed countries are increasingly challenged by the advent of a global economy that mandates generating creative images of their cities. Meanwhile, it is argued in this study that globalisation, and its Arabic version of Dubaisation, is affecting the sustainability of cities as distinguished destinations because urban representation is influenced not only by ‘standardised global cliché’ but also by ‘standardised local images’ that transforms local cultures into contested heritage as it intensifies an official and civic nexus. The paradox is examined in Jordan, specifically the famously branded ‘city of mosaic’ – Madaba, where the state government is currently competing for attracting international investments and tourism development to achieve neoliberal urban restructuring. Urban heritage representation has been subject to passive dominant official discourse that rests upon orthodox mosaic practices of remote past – a praxis that is not necessarily endorsed by civic Ahl elbalad. The local mosaic heritage has hitherto been transformed into a competing culture that fosters heritage dualities and challenges the internal implications of heritage representation with its elevated feelings of alienation, disempowerment, gentrification and socio-cultural exclusion. A theoretical framework has been suggested for an alternative civic-orientated heritage revival that allows reconciliation between the official/civic nexus yet meanwhile stimulates creative urban images and identities. Other insights are also considered in the study.     

Migration,Geographies of Marginality and Informality—Impacts on Upper and Lower Ends of Urban Systems in the North and South

Since the onset of post-industrialism, the research focus in the developed world has increasingly shifted to the role of the information and communication technology, knowledge workers and the creative sector in the global economy. It has led to what could be described as an iceberg approach to economic research. In this approach, the focus is primarily on what happens in the part of the global economic iceberg above the waterline—the “clean”, “fast-moving”, “technologically advanced” elements of the global economy. However another element of the global economy, the informal sector, is growing at an alarming rate in cities in both the developed and developing worlds. These activities are unobtrusively operating in a part of the iceberg below the waterline that receives relatively little attention from the research community. The purposes of this paper are to demonstrate how the information networks created in the iceberg above the waterline are being used by a growing section of the society in the developing world in order to reach first-world destinations. It shows how informality is changing the urban landscape in first-world cities where large concentrations of non-Western populations occur. The paper then shifts its attention to the overwhelmingly informally driven economies of African cities and outlines the inappropriateness of standard economic measures to accurately portray conditions there.     

CULTURAL ECONOMY AND THE CREATIVE FIELD OF THE CITY

I begin with a rough sketch of the incidence of the cultural economy in US cities today. I then offer a brief review of some theoretical approaches to the question of creativity, with special reference to issues of social and geographic context. The city is a powerful fountainhead of creativity, and an attempt is made to show how this can be understood in terms of a series of localized field effects. The creative field of the city is broken down (relative to the cultural economy) into four major components, namely, (a) intra‐urban webs of specialized and complementary producers, (b) the local labour market and the social networks that bind workers together in urban space, (c) the wider urban environment, including various sites of memory, leisure, and social reproduction, and (d) institutions of governance and collective action. I also briefly describe some of the path‐dependent dynamics of the creative field. The article ends with a reference to some issues of geographic scale. Here, I argue that the urban is but one (albeit important) spatial articulation of an overall creative field whose extent is ultimately nothing less than global.