Accommodating creative knowledge

Sako Musterd

Urban GeographyUniversity of Amsterdam

ACRE project objective

learn more about the conditions that are important to the development of creative and knowledge intensive industries in various European urban regions

Creative industries

Advertising, architecture, arts and antiques, crafts, design, designer fashion, video, film, music, photography, visual and performing arts, publishing, computer games, software and electronic publishing, radio and TV

Knowledge intensive industries

Law (legal sector, accounting, bookkeeping, auditing, etc), financial sector, R&D, ICT, higher education

ACRE project focus

• What are the development paths of creative knowledge regions and how are these informed by the wider economic and societal contexts?

• How important are hard (classic), soft and other conditions for the creative and knowledge intensive industries in European urban regions?

• What are the settlement considerations of managers, highly skilled employees and transnational migrants in the creative knowledge sector when they decide to settle in an urban area?

Integrated Methodology• ‘Comparative’• ‘Similar’ sectors• ‘Similar’ target groups• ‘Similar’ questionnaires (common design)• ‘Similar’ item lists• Systematic approach (more robust results)• Including different theoretical perspectives (path

dependence, clustering, classic conditions, soft conditions, networks)

Development paths: wider economic and social contexts; main factors

• Position due to the development of the European city system

• The impact of the industrial revolution on the urban region

• The question whether the urban region has a key political or economic decision-making function

• The question whether urban regions are pushed forward by policies aimed at stimulating regional economies

‘hard’ or ‘classic’ conditions …

• agglomeration economies (clustering) • connections (road, air, water, rail,

telecommunications)• capital• labour (jobs available)• wider institutional setting (including

taxes regimes, special policies, etc.)

… or ‘soft conditions’ …

• Attractiveness (urban atmosphere; housing availability and affordability)

• Diversity• Welcoming• Historical assets• Tolerance• Openness• Safety

… or personal ‘network’ conditions …

• Born in the region

• Family lives here

• Studied in the city

• Proximity to friends

Some empirical results based on ACRE large-scale surveys

among high-skilled employees, managers, and transnational

migrants

Perc. highly skilled employees that ranked networks, hard, or soft conditions indicators as most important

  Networks Hard conditions Soft conditions Total percentage N

Amsterdam 38 35 26 100 221

Barcelona 62 27 11 100 200

Birmingham 57 38 5 100 165

Budapest 71 24 5 100 197

Helsinki 51 39 10 100 191

Leipzig 43 50 8 100 159

Munich 30 60 10 100 178

Poznan 74 23 3 100 155

Riga 80 17 4 100 132

Sofia 91 10   100 200

Toulouse 47 42 10 100 191

Milan 64 32 4 100 183

Dublin 57 42 1 100 201

Total 58 34 8 100 2373

ConceptsPersonal networksborn in regionfamily lives herestudied in Cityproximity to friends

Hard conditionsmoved because of my jobmoved because of partner's jobgood employment opportunitieshigher wagessize of citygood transport linkspresence of good universities

Soft conditionsweather/climateproximity to natural environmenthousing affordabilityhousing availabilityhousing qualitysafe for childrenopen to different peopleopen minded and tolerantgay/lesbian friendlylanguageoverall friendlinessdiversity of leisure & entertainmentcultural diversitydiversity of built environment

Relative share of respondents that ranked indicators as among the four most important from a list of 26 indicators, assembled in specific dimensions, per urban region

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Some conclusions• Difference between cities (a city is mainly context)• Structural conditions, embeddedness and

pathways are key to understanding current opportunities (but not just these)

• Multilayered cities have advantage• Networks and employment opportunities are

especially important• Pathways, hard conditions, soft conditions and

networks must be considered simultaneously• Policies matter

POLICIES

POLICIES

• What Policies and Policy Vehicles?

• What Spatial Level?

• What Organisational Arrangements?

• Policy Challenges for cities

What Policies and Policy Vehicles?

Visible policies: Economic Development Policy

• Investing in Skills: Employment services, Training, • Attracting Investors/firms: Sites and premises, Business

incentives• City marketing, Visitor attractions, Creative quarters,

Prestige projects

What Policies and Policy Vehicles?Less Visible policies:

• Education

• City planning, housing affordability, neighbourhoods, quality of life

• Local service delivery: environmental, leisure and other services

• National and local taxation

• Immigration controls, citizenship rights and the welfare state

• Representation and influence, bureaucracy and regulation, ‘the ways things work’

What Policies and Policy Vehicles?

Less Visible policies: ‘the ways things work’

• Encouraging the availability of services for businesses – financial, legal

• Support for partners - Trade associations, personal networks

• How easy is it to start and set up a business?• Where does advice and support come from?• A role for policy: providing or enabling

Tensions around integration of policies, holistic approaches, bureaucracy should not kill creativity

What Policy Vehicles?Strategies: What are they based on?• Objective assessment for each city of needs, objectives,

resources, implementation, and evaluation (not a simple transferable formula, but context dependent)

Policies• Cluster Policies, Creative or Knowledge, Firms or People,

Traditional hard factors or soft factors, Network facilitation, Attraction and Retention

Supported Activities• how targeted, financed, what conditions

POLICIES: Spatial Scale

• National, Regional, Sub-regional, Local Neighbourhood

• Each has a role in relation to different policies but is the responsibility, capacity and competence at the right level?

Tensions:

• the lack of a regional level?

• The failure to align policies?

POLICIES: What Organisational Arrangements

• Between levels of government• Between private sector actors• Across each of these sectoral divisions• Across professional, sectoral and

administrative boundaries• Who leads? Listening, Learning and

Responding rather than charismatic leadership?

Conclusions and Questions

In the context of each city:• Are the assets and dynamics understood (size, structure,

pathways, politics, organisations etc.) • Is the policy framework favourable?

– Different spatial scales and alignment between them? – Is there effective cross boundary working? – Policy integration – holistic approaches?

• Is the emphasis on the appropriate economic sectors?• Is the focus right (firms and hard factors……..housing

affordability… networks, attraction and retention)?

Conclusions and Questions

• Does the leadership and policy process work?• Should there be more or less policy?• Is a different policy style required?

• What is missing?• What is needed?