1. What is a Creative City?
Competition has increased extensively as the ideology of a ‘global village’ has grown in support and has become a goal that many cities are attempting to achieve. This has resulted in cities adopting ingenious and original strategies in order to remain ahead of the game and these strategies have ensued cities to grow into creative cities. But what exactly is a creative city? Sire Peter Hall, an English professor, wrote in his book “Cities in Civilisation” that the phenomenon of the creative city is one that belongs to every age and no city constantly displays creativity.
There are numerous types of creative cities: the technologically innovative, the culturally intellectual, the culturally technological and the
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Conditions for a Creative City
There is no precedential example of the ‘perfect’ creative city. At first glance so many so-called creative cities seem to differ drastically from one another (such as Hollywood, Athens of Pericles or Manchester during the Industrial Revolution), however, after closer assessment, it becomes apparent that every city was a melting point of creativity. This melting pot could relate either to technology, culture, or knowledge and regardless of which aspect was most prominent, each city was a breeding ground for
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Due to the spontaneity and impulsive nature of creativity whereby individuals process and act differently to the norm, innovation and originality becomes prevalent and therefore this notion of creative cities being unpredictable is understood. Innovation occurs when pre-existing ideas are connected resulting in the creation of a completely new concept. Therefore, it can be claimed that creativity leads to, in the words of Schumpeter, “Neue Kombinationen” (new combinations). In order to demonstrate how creativity works in practice it would be useful to look at the example of the creation of the printing press. At a wine festival in Mainz, Gutenberg, a German monk had the idea of combining the three acts of engraving symbols on wooden blocks, using grapes to make wine and stamping seals on letters to create one machine that could be used to print the Bible. Creativity is spurred by human ingenuity, circumstance and chance. Therefore it is infantile to assume that creativity is something that can be forced or that a creative city can be generated by a plan. Despite this, it cannot be denied that there are certain factors that must be fulfilled in order for a city to be considered a creative city: concentration, diversity and
In conclusion, creative capitalism is already afoot and doing its best but there is so much more that can be done. Many companies forget that the poorest two-thirds of the world's population have some $5 trillion in purchasing power between them. Governments can also help by investing in creating more creative incentives. They can also make sure corporations get the publicity for doing good work so to shine a good light on those that help others. Customers of these corporations can help by buying products from companies that help with society. If more companies follow the lead of the more creative organizations in their industry, they will make a large impact on some of the world's worst problems and together we can make a change for the better.
In their article, “The Creativity Crisis”, authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explore the urgency of the downfall in the public’s “creativity quotient.” Bronson and Merryman emphasize the necessity for young children to be imaginative. Through an IBM poll, they verify that with the decrease of creativity in our society comes an array of consequences seen in the work field. The authors remind readers of another reason for the importance of creativity; they argue that creative ideas can solve national matters. Hence, Branson and Merryman believe that original ideas are key for a better world. Though I concede that creativity is a vital key to the solution of many national problems, I still insist that teaching creativity,
The creative class is an emerging socioeconomic class in the United States. Richard Florida, a well-decorated Professor, defined this new class of Americans. Richard Florida focused on social and economic theories, which has developed a popular reputation in many cities today where the creative class has been adopted. This new class of Americans emerged after Richard Florida debuted his book The Rise of the Creative Class: And How it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life in 2002. After 2002 postindustrial cities began to move to more economic development.
...szentmihalyi Builds On His Flow Theory, Profiling Individuals Who Have Found Ways To Make Flow A Permanent Feature Of Their Lives And At The Same Time Have Contributed To Society And Culture. Professor Csikszentmihalyi Explores Why Creative People Are Often Seen As Selfish And Arrogant (Even Though They Are Not) And Reveals That The Idea Of The Tortured Genius Is Largely A Myth. He Argues That Creativity Needs To Be Cultivated Not Only In Traditionally Creative Fields Like Sciences And Art, But Also In Business, Government, And Education. Conversations With Dozens Of Respondents To Csikszentmihalyi’s Survey Are Combined In This Book With A Careful Analysis Of What Makes Creativity Possible And Even Likely. Those Of Us In The Growing Field Of Knowledge Management Have Much To Take From It Personally And Professionally And Much, Much Pleasure To Find In It As Well.
Throughout Eric Weiner's entire quest to places of genius located in various parts of the world, the author of Geography of Genius asked many important questions; however, perhaps the most important question he would ask would be if there was a reason why certain places throughout history had so many geniuses. Weiner would pursue the answer to this questions through results of research already conducted, and through the intake of personal experience as he explored the depths of these ex-creativity-hotspots. He discovered that many creative settings had one or more central conflicts serving as obstacles to daily life and that they were never these paradise-like places we might associate them to be. In the end, his conclusion of why certain locations
Florida (2002) defines creativity as the ability to synthesize. In his book, he claims creativity as the “decisive source” of competitive advantage and that creative class is the prominent driving force of economic development. Creativity in artistic and cultural forms has involved in inspiring economic and technological creativity and it is believed that, in that sense, economy moves from a system of company-centered to more of a mechanism of people-driven.
The framework that Jameson utilizes helps us understand why the city owner in “I Bought a Little City” alters a perfectly industrialized city with antique ideals. Jameson introduces the idea that postmodernism, the absence of innovation, is a concept that plays an active role in our society but is not accepted as so. This is not widely accepted because it is frowned upon to not be unique or exclusive in our day to day lives. Being able to cultivate your own styles and ideas makes you a more desirable person in our culture. Jameson concedes that postmodernism has a main characteristic, stating “one of the most significant features or practices in postmodernism today is pastiche” (Jameson, 1983, p.113).
Consequently, a city or area begins to lose its identity and uniqueness. This is due to one main factor. In his book The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida states that the “driving force is the rise of human creativity as the key factor in our economy and society. Both at work and in other spheres of our lives, we value creativity more highly and cultivate it more intensely than we ever have before” (5) Essentially, creativity has become essential to aspect of life, whether it is work, leisure time, etc. It is something of paramount importance in today's society and caused the creative class to form, also known as the “bourgeois bohemians" (Zukin 7). This creative class is what governments and companies are attempting to cater to—at the cost of the livelihood of those who are not part of the creative class. So how does this decrease in the uniqueness of an area? A perfect example would be to go back to Komakech’s Jackson’s study of ethnic stores in Toronto. While there is clearly an economic loss for the community and its businesses, they lose their sense of community as
Finally, this paper will explore the “end product” that exists today through the works of the various authors outlined in this course and explain how Los Angeles has survived many decades of evolution, breaking new grounds and serving as the catalyst for an urban metropolis.
In conclusion to some up this essay the term ‘creativity’ will always cause a debate in the educational system as. There will always be difficulty defining it as many use the term too loosely to have a definitive meaning. It requires risk taking, it is difficult to portray creativity when schools are so obsessed with right or wrong answers for ways of doing things. Society teaches us the risks are bad because the government and its policies interfere with our own choices and decisions.
Chippendale presently is in the midst of a cultural, economic and urban revitalisation. Community goals to creative a creative community initiate urban renewal and foster artistic and economic growth to not only local but also global community.
Consumer culture plays a key role in the economy. Today, the ways in which urban spaces are arranged facilitate the consumption of goods. One only needs to look to modern cities such as New York, London or Tokyo in order to recognise the countless forms of advertisement intended to lure the mass population into spending money on various merchandises, from novelty items to luxury products. The use of built structures to facilitate the display of retail products for the consumption of the masses is nothing new. After its renovation, Paris became a model innovative city planning and construction for a lot of modern cities that exist today. The wide boulevards and open spaces engaged the mass population and encouraged consumerism.
The creative economy is deeply rooted in national economies. By producing economic and employment benefits in related services and manufacturing sectors, it promotes economic diversification, revenues, trade and innovation. It also helps to revive declining urban areas, to open up and develop remote rural areas. In a number of countries the creative economy has been growing faster than the rest of the economy. There are a number of different approaches and classifications to define the creative sector. The typical way to measure an industry’s contribution to the national economy is to measure its value added, including its share of labour. However, the value added by individual creative industries is not generally available from government
Creativity is a hard phenomenon to be measured, for it is a complex concept that encompasses a lot of domains; it is not specific to a certain field, rather it is manifested in different ways. Throughout the years, researches have tried to come up with a variety of methods to assess the occurrence and the development of the creative abilities individuals possess, each depending on a different perspective. As mentioned in the previous sections, creativity was considered an exceptional gift only certain people are endowed with, the reason why, at that time, there was no need for assessment, for it was recognized through the exceptional achievement of those “exceptional individuals”; their outcome is sufficient to tell how creative they are. Barboot,
As previously implied, cities are currently the antithesis of even the barest sense of sustainability. To succinctly define the term “sustainability” would be to say that it represents living within one’s needs. When it comes to the city, with almost zero local sources of food or goods, one’s means is pushed and twisted to include resources originating far beyond the boundaries of the urban landscape. Those within cities paradoxically have both minimal and vast options when it comes to continuing their existence, yet this blurred reality is entirely reliant on the resources that a city can pull in with its constantly active economy.