European inventory of
societal values of culture

Evans - From cultural quarters to creative clusters

Evans, G. (2009). From cultural quarters to creative clusters – creative spaces in the new city economy. In Legner, M. (Ed.) The sustainability and development of cultural quarters: international perspectives, (pp. 32-59). Stockholm: Institute of Urban History.

Attention to, and investigation of, the phenomenon of cultural and creative quarters is now widespread. From historic city centre and industrial heritage sites, alternative communities and settlements (Miles 2005) to institutional “shopping malls of culture” (Bogner 2001) and digital media and knowledge cities. No longer limited to developed old world cities and historic quarters, the perceived benefits of spatially defined cultural clusters is evident in small and medium sized towns, in fast developing countries and in city-states such as Singapore. Research and conceptual models include “scenes” (Lange 2005); economic models of agglomeration (Porter 2000) and consumption (retail, 
entertainment, tourism) ‘destination’ clusters; proxy indices of the “creative class” (Florida 2005), and the integration of planning of the creative city project (Landry 2000). These are discussed through the analysis of a survey of creative industry cluster strategies promoted by over 75 cities-regions worldwide, with examples of creative cluster developments and their underlying rationales.