The promotion of creative industries as a tool for urban planning: the case of theTerritoire de la culture et de la créationin Paris Region

Abstract

The use of cultural amenities as a tool for strategic planning and the incorporation of the symbolic value of culture by capitalist modes of production have been widely studied. At the same time, debates surrounding the emerging concepts of creative economy and industries have fostered economic development strategies promoting clusters of creative activities. The case of the Territoire de la culture et de la création, in a Paris suburb, illustrates an hybridisation of these two kinds of strategies. As we will explain, the promotion of creative activities (mainly film industries) within the frame of a large urban project should not be seen as an economic strategy but as a planning strategy. Here, supporting creative industries is not this urban project's goal but its tool. It is a means to give value to a brownfield area, before launching a large and expensive urban project requiring private investors.

Close to the ‘local cool’: creative place reputation in Dutch ‘ordinary cities’

“…Much of the aforementioned debate has focused on the urban context (Collins and Cunningham 2017), and especially on the first tier cities and prominent metropolitan or creative cities (White 2010) such as Amsterdam (Kloosterman 2004;Peck 2012), Beijing and Shanghai (Liu 2009), London (Lee and Drever 2013), Vancouver (Hutton 2004), New York (Currid 2007), San Francisco (Pratt 2002), Paris (Aubry, Blein, and Vivant 2015) and Berlin (Heebels and van Aalst 2010;Lange 2009). These global cities are believed to inhabit the diversity and tolerance pursued by creative workers (Florida 2002;Jacobs 1962;Lawton, Murphy, and Redmond 2013), as well as the creative milieu (Hall 2000), the 'cool jobs' (David and Rosenbloom 1990;Neff, Wissinger, and Zukin 2005;Scott 2005;Storper and Scott 2009), the neo-bohemic vibrancy (Lloyd 2002), and the relevant networks, clusters, infrastructures and embedded knowledge (Banks et al 2000) that allegedly would foster creative and professional success.…”

Reframing the creative city debate from locally-based artistic activities.The case of independent films scenes in Paris suburb

“…This vision plans the creation of new workspaces for the creative industries, support for the development of these activities, and the inclusion of artistic projects in real estate developments. It can be seen as a differentiation strategy in a context of competition between territories within the Parisian metropolis itself, to attract real estate investments towards more or less ambitious urban regeneration projects (Aubry, Blein and Vivant 2015). In calling Plaine Commune a "territory of culture and creation", local authorities emphasized the historical embeddedness of audiovisual industries in the territory (where the first studios were created at the beginning of the 20th century) and the presence of a dense artistic network (Plaine Commune, Notre Atelier Commun et Polau 2010; Verdalle, Rot, Sauguet 2008).…”

O terceiro lado do muro. A arte e as suas cidades

“…O primeiro é o do próprio processo de "eventificação" (Jacob, 2013), à medida que a política cultural das cidades se move progressivamente de "instituições" para "eventos" (Henningsen et al, 2015) e a sua geografia vai sendo moldada para acomodar um preenchido calendário anual de acontecimentos culturais. Esta "festivalização"na definição de Häussermann e Siebel (1993) -a um mesmo tempo da cultura e da própria cidade, com o encontro entre arte, espaço público, grandes audiências e cobertura mediática tornaram-se "ferramentas poderosas para atrair investidores, estimular indústrias orientadas para o consumo e redesenhar a imagem e reputação de uma cidade" (Aubry et al, 2015). Mas os efeitos de um evento estão muito além da sua constituição como pólo de atração.…”

“…Nos últimos anos a literatura em torno do uso instrumental da cultura na regeneração urbana tem crescido consideravelmente, analisando o impacto de mega-eventos (como a Capital Europeia da Cultura), equipamentos culturais de referência (o efeito "Bilbao"), ou a criação de distritos artísticos e de aglomeração cultural na agenda política para o desenvolvimento local e competição internacional (Liu, 2012;Aubry et al, 2015;Pavoni, 2015;Skrede, 2015). O caso de Lisboa, embora relativamente pouco trabalhado quando comparado com as suas congéneres europeias, representa um campo rico e complexo devido à forma assertiva como a cidade definiu a cultura, no meio de uma severa crise económica, como um catalisador vital da regeneração de um centro histórico decadente.…”