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Following economic restructuring, waterfront redevelopment emerges as a post-industrial option for struggling cities and regions that will boost economic growth. If functioning according to plan, publicly initiated and privately executed waterfront redevelopment will attract educated and highincome earning residents as it simultaneously transforms derelict industrial grounds into residential areas and science parks. The recent financial crisis of 2008 has seen severe turbulence in the urban economy resulting in, for example, foreclosures and drops in real-estate value. Drawn on this background, the aim of this paper is to shed light on whether a specific place-based activity: the establishment of a redeveloped waterfront in Gothenburg, Sweden, facilitating residences and workplaces, has attracted human capital in the form of residents and workers often termed 'talented' and 'creative'. This paper uses a unique longitudinal micro database (GILDA) containing information on residence, work, age, etc. covering the entire Swedish population between the years 1990 and 2008 and focuses on flows of in-and out-migration of two human capital subgroups: the arts-educated bohemians and the engineering-educated consultants. Results show that the waterfront attracts resident consultants and not bohemians, while the growth of workplaces stagnate and decline following the global economic recession of 2008. The paper contributes to knowledge on the complexity of redevelopment and how difficult it is to manage this process.

Recent research has elucidated the role of talents to explain urban growth differences but it remains to be shown whether urban dynamics, such as human capital and a mixed local population, can be linked to intraurban employment growth. By use of a unique longitudinal database, we track the economic development through the lens of intraurban employment growth of a number of primary urban areas (PUA) in Göteborg, Sweden. Regarding factors influencing employment growth, we find that relative concentrations of human capital protect areas from rising unemployment during severe recession (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993) and recovery (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000) while the composition of skills is beneficial during recovery (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000) and long-term growth (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008). Our findings suggest that neither too high concentrations of creative occupations nor too low ones are beneficial. Thus, human capital drives much of the employment changes in relation to the recession and early transition from manufacturing to service but composition of skills is more relevant for explaining long-term intraurban employment growth. BackgroundThe gradual shift from manufacturing to a postindustrial knowledge-based economy has resulted in a number of events that have changed future prerequisites for economic development. These events include a deepened spatial division of labour at both regional [1] and urban [2] levels, urban decline and revitalization [3], and a growing service industry [4,5]. In relation to this, increasing attention has been directed towards how the changing geography of talent shapes the preconditions for regional and urban development. In particular, focus has been on the role of high concentrations of human capital and creativity when it comes to explaining postindustrial location tendencies and why certain localities prosper while others do not [6][7][8]. However, recent contributions have shown that it is not the pure agglomeration of certain industries and skills that primarily drive development but rather the composition of knowledge at both the level of the region [9][10][11][12] and within the firm [13]. Framing the issue of the geography of talents is its impact on the economic structure of the city region as a whole. In agreement with Törnqvist [14], Hutton [15] and Hansen, and Winther [2], we argue that studying the city region from a holistic perspective is not fruitful if one wishes to put the spatial division of talents in the context of contemporary urban development, especially if one wishes to understand current urban economic activity. Thus, instead of conceptualising the city as a homogenous fabric of inputs and outputs in order to compare its economic activities with other cities, most notably illustrated in the phrase of "cauldrons of creativity" [8], Hansen and Winther [2] argue that the growing complexity of l...

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