Four models of the creative industries

What is the dynamic value of the creative industries from the economic perspective? This paper seeks to answer this question by proposing four models of the relationship between the creative industries and the whole economy, then examining the evidence for each. We find that growth models fit the data well, but not everywhere. We discuss the methodological and empirical basis for this finding and its implications for economic and cultural policy.     

Cool,funky and creative? The creative class and preferences for leisure and culture

It is a core element in Richard Florida’s popular theory on growth to be able to attract the creative class to a geographical area. But Florida is not very specific on which kind of amenities are important for attracting and keeping the creative class. The purpose of this paper is to analyse which kind of cultural activities the creative class is actually using. Which kind of cultural activities does the creative class use more intensively than other groups in society? This paper presents new empirical results on preferences for leisure and culture. Richard Florida’s theory can be, and has been, criticised – especially on the issue of causality. The analyses presented in this paper show that being part of the creative class has an independent and significant role in explaining preferences for leisure and culture.     

Having an impact? Academics,the music industries and the problem of knowledge

This article reflects upon recent interest in knowledge transfer from higher education to the creative industries, using the UK music industries as a case study. It suggests that traditional academic values of impartiality and concern with research methodology can come in to conflict with instrumentalist agendas that see research as valuable only insofar as it fits with pre‐existing worldviews and policy ends. In this setting, knowledge resistance is often more significant than knowledge transfer and may be expected to frustrate any attempts to have an ‘impact’.     

Geographical Concentration of Manufacturing Industries in China: The Importance of Spatial and Industrial Scales

Using the most recent data from the first economic census in China, a team of China-based and American economic geographers investigates the geographical concentration of manufacturing industries at the provincial and county levels by integrating proxy variables for natural advantages, agglomeration economies, and institutional changes (e.g., decentralization) associated with economic transition. The authors focus their investigation on manufacturing activity as a whole, as well as on manufacturing categories at the two- and three-digit levels of aggregation (the latter representing a finer scale of analysis than used in almost all previous studies). Interesting differences emerge in the locational patterns of industries whose enterprises pursue strategies of globalization vis-à-vis local protectionism. Differences also are apparent in the impacts of agglomeration economies and knowledge spillover at different spatial scales. The findings suggest that both spatial scale and level of industrial aggregation matter when analyzing patterns of industrial agglomeration in China. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L10, L20, L60, O18. 5 figures, 5 tables, 50 references.     

Latin America: trade and culture at a crossroads

ABSTRACT

Trade liberalization took the cultural community in Latin America by surprise, forcing a defensive reaction that took years to generate adequate public policy responses. However, cultural policy has changed unevenly in the region. Two issues became the center of culture and trade debates after the 1990s: cultural industry production and traditional indigenous knowledge. Mexico, by far the largest producer of audiovisual content on the continent, has been reluctant to adopt defensive approaches or red lines during trade negotiations. In fact, Chile is the only country that negotiated a ‘cultural reserve’ in its FTA with the United States. Regarding traditional knowledge, only states with large indigenous populations like Guatemala, Panama but especially Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador in the Andean Region dedicated significant efforts to fight for intellectual property protection for traditional knowledge, including benefit-sharing for the commercial use of genetic resources, derived through indigenous collective knowledge.     

媒介-空间辩证法:创意城市理论新解

本文采用思辨方法,以作者对现代城市空间的观察,以及"媒介物"和"媒介表征"在城市空间的渗透,作为出发点,探讨媒介与城市空间的辩证关系,增进有关媒介和城市及其相互作用的认识。文章指出媒介-空间辩证法的知识基础,来自于新兴交叉学科"媒介与传播地理学";然后对媒体的空间性和空间化过程及其在城市空间的具体表现和可能影响,进行了初步分析,建立了媒体与城市空间的交互分类体系;通过借用"媒介的物化"和"物的媒介化"思想,将媒体与城市空间的辩证关系,与创意城市的理论探讨相关联,指出媒介-城市空间辩证法对于创意城市的理论建构,具有重要的启发意义。     

建构主义视角下工业遗产的功能置换和意义诠释——广州红专厂的案例研究

从建构主义的角度,研究广州红专厂的空间功能置换和游客感知,空间功能的置换具体表现为物质载体工业建筑和机器设备的外观改造及用途变化,而游客感知则通过分析游客对工业遗产空间的感知情况,探讨空间置换后产生和传达出的意义。通过比较这些意义与工业遗产价值的关系,可以更好的理解工业遗产空间的消费主义改造方式,也可以更好的理解创意产业空间所体现的当今社会对工业遗产的态度。研究发现,游客将红专厂理解为一个文化艺术和休闲消费的场所,而不是工业文明的记忆空间。红专厂工业空间的创意产业园式改造,传递出的已经不是工业文化的内涵,而是新的消费意义,实际上是工业文化向消费文化转变的过程。这种再利用方式与真正意义上的工业遗产保护是有所偏离的。     

Neo-Liberalism as Creative Destruction

Neoliberalization has swept across the world like a vast tidal wave of institutional reform and discursive adjustment, entailing much destruction, not only of prior institutional frameworks and powers, but also of divisions of labor, social relations, welfare provisions, technological mixes, ways of life, attachments to the land, habits of the heart, ways of thought, and the like. To turn the neoliberal rhetoric against itself, we may reasonably ask: in whose particular interests is it that the state take a neoliberal stance and in what ways have these particular interests used neoliberalism to benefit themselves rather than, as is claimed, everyone, everywhere? Neoliberalism has spawned a swath of oppositional movements. The more clearly oppositional movements recognize that their central objective must be to confront the class power that has been so effectively restored under neoliberalization, the more they will likely themselves cohere.     

由新民主主义向社会主义的提前过渡与优先发展重工业的战略抉择

何时由新民主主义向社会主义过渡,是与中国工业化选择什么样的发展战略紧密相关的问题。中华人民共和国成立后,中国共产党之所以决定提前向社会主义过渡,根本原因是编制五年计划时选择了优先发展重工业的战略,并得到了苏联在技术和设备制造上给予全面援助的承诺。而实际过渡时之所以又被提前,主要原因也在于要使农业和资本主义工商业尽快适应优先发展重工业的需要。优先发展重工业的战略虽然存在一定历史局限性,向社会主义的过渡中也出现了一些弊端,但总体看,正是优先发展重工业的战略抉择和向社会主义的提前过渡,使中国抓住了当时的历史机遇,大大加快了中国工业化的进程,为今天建设中国特色社会主义提供了前提条件。     

INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHICAL ECONOMIES OF CREATIVITY, ENTERPRISE AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

This special issue brings together creativity and enterprise through the geographies of the creative industries. In recent years the focus of academic debate has privileged business and corporate economies, and so this issue seeks to contribute both empirically and theoretically to the burgeoning literature of creative industries. Economic geography offers a rich domain through which to engage with these debates, exploring the nuances of creativity and enterprise. Our aim, as well as bringing together a set of interesting papers, is to contribute critically to understanding the organization and spatial structure of creative industries and the broader creative economy.