What to Make of New York's New Economy? The Politics of the Creative Field

Urban Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1063-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Indergaard

Inner-city ensembles featuring novel mixes of culture, technology and commerce are generating synergies of production, consumption and place. Yet, this `new economy of the city' is also linked to contradictory economic impulses and negative effects. Proposing that economistic accounts have a limited ability to explain the rise of these ensembles, their effects and the possibilities for policy, the idea of a `creative field' is revised in order to analyse how politics have shaped a creative ensemble in Lower Manhattan. It is shown that the political influence of real estate has helped to displace firms and residents of modest means, and has stunted campaigns by creative sectors to access resources, build institutions and upgrade capacities. However, a survey of creative industry politics hints at alternative policies that, in the wake of the financial collapse, might promote progressive ties between creative segments and modest neighbourhoods.

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivor Chipkin

Abstract:This article considers a burgeoning literature on Johannesburg from the perspective of the sorts of questions it asks about the city. There is a substantial and lively literature on questions of poverty and equality, class and race. These studies are strongly informed by the idea that the mechanisms that produce such inequalities are key to understanding the nature of Johannesburg as a city: in terms of how its economy works and how political institutions function, but also in terms of what sort of city Johannesburg is and can be. I consider sociological and economic studies of the inner city that try to account for demographic shifts in the inner city and for processes of social and physical degeneration. I review urban anthropologies of inner-city society, considering in particular new forms of social and economic organization among inner-city residents. Related to these, I discuss debates among scholars about the prospects for governing the city, paying special attention to the consequences for such readings on partnerships. I also discuss an emerging literature, critical of that above, which seeks to shift analysis of the city toward studies of culture and identity. These literatures do not simply approach the city through different disciplinary lenses (sociology or economy or anthropology or cultural studies) . They come to their studies from different normative perspectives. For some, the key political question of the day is one about social and political equality in its various forms. For others, it is about the degree to which Johannesburg (or Africa) is different from or the same as other places in the world. This paper has tried to bring to the fore the political (and not simply policy) consequences of these different views. It concludes not by seeking to reconcile these perspectives, but by suggesting a way of retaining a commitment to equality and justice while not reducing them simply to questions of economy. At stake, I argue, are questions of democratic culture and of sociability.


Urban Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1247-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Barnes ◽  
Thomas Hutton

The purpose of this paper is to make an argument about the importance of geographical context and contingency in the emergence of the new economy within the inner city. Using a case study of Vancouver, it is suggested, first, that its new economy has emerged precisely out of the peculiar trajectory of the city and is bound up with a staples economy, branch plant corporate offices, transnationalism, and mega-project orientation. Secondly, to illustrate the importance of situation and site, the paper focuses on two of Vancouver's inner-city locales: Yaletown, on the margins of the Downtown South, a former industrial and warehousing district now regarded as the epicentre of Vancouver's new economy; and Victory Square, the former commercial heart of the early Vancouver, for many years experiencing disinvestment and decline, but now on the cusp of a major revitalisation which threatens to displace long-established social cohorts.


Urban Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1187-1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.C. Ho

This paper examines the wild and unruly side of the creative economy and how work-styles associated with this form of production are closely tied to particular types of urban environment. In the case of Singapore, the policy to grow creative industry as a key competitive strategy has focused on building infrastructure, manpower and alliances without space provision for a range of activities. State policies, especially in the education of creative workers and artists, are broad in their impacts and these tend to have unanticipated effects in growing a wider array of activities than imagined. As a result, new start-ups take root in ungentrified portions of Singapore's inner city where low rents and centrality provide the functional basis for growth, but equally important, the diversity and vitality create an atmosphere which fits the work-styles of new economy firms.


1990 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gomez

Songhay sources compiled in the seventeenth century portray the relationship between Gao, the political capital of the state, and Timbuktu, the religious and commercial centre, as abnormally important. The view is that Timbuktu was not only autonomous, but a source of important political influence over policy decisions at Gao. A consensus of contemporary scholars has embraced this depiction. In contrast, the present study argues that Timbuktu was not autonomous, but that Gao was sucessful in achieving its original objective in capturing the city: financial profit. In addition, the evidence is consistent in outlining the relatively negligible political influence of Timbuktu over Gao. The Timbuktu-centric chronicles are largely responsible for this distortion; it is therefore necessary to approach these sources with even greater caution. It is also desirable to re-examine the roles of other sahelian entrepots during the imperial Songhay period to determine more accurately their relative importance.


Urban Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1095-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Paul Catungal ◽  
Deborah Leslie ◽  
Yvonne Hii

Creative industries are increasingly associated with employment, tourism and the attraction and retention of talent in economic development discourse. However, there is a need to foreground the interests involved in promoting the creative city and the political implications of such policies. This paper analyses new industry formation in Liberty Village—a cultural industry precinct in inner-city Toronto, Canada. The focus is on the place-making strategies at work in constructing Liberty Village. In particular, the paper explores a series of displacements associated with creative districts, focusing on three scales in particular—the level of the city, the neighbourhood and the precinct itself. An examination of these displacements foregrounds the contested nature of the creative city script.


2020 ◽  
pp. 159-179
Author(s):  
Joe William Trotter

During the late 20th century, as the city made the transition from its predominantly manufacturing base to a new economy driven by high technology medical, educational, financial, and marketing institutions, African Americans suffered disproportionately higher unemployment, disease, poverty, and incarceration rates than their white counterparts. Near century's end, the Urban League of Pittsburgh deepened the political side of its social service activities to address what it called a seemingly “never-ending cycle” of “revolving doors and broken ladders” for too many of the city's black residents.


2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-101
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Vickery

The subject of this paper is an inner city artist-run gallery called Eastside Projects. As part of an historical trend in artistrun spaces, Eastside Projects have innovated a strategic approach to post-industrial space, their location and role within the city of Birmingham, UK. This paper outlines their approach in the context of the recent cultural policy frameworks impressed on publicly funded city-based art organisations. It attempts to extend the conceptualisation of contemporary art in the city within urban studies generally, specifically investigating the theoretical potential of Eastside Project’s curatorial strategy. How can we define public agency for art in the neoliberal city? For Eastside Projects, agency is defined principally through space and the aesthetics of space. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for articulating the political aesthetics of new public spaces for art.


2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-97
Author(s):  
Mae Baker ◽  
Michael Collins

This article is a study in the strength of shared strategic beliefs amongst leading British clearing bankers in the years following World War II and how those common beliefs may have inhibited potential for market growth. The subject of the study is the performance of large British deposit bankswith respect to the financing of industry. This behavior has long been criticized by economic historians as suboptimal and, depending on the commentator, has been presented variously as evidence of entrepreneurial failure, the gentrification of the City, social schism amongst the economic and social elite, the political influence of City institutions, the external orientation of capital markets, or institutional sclerosis. However, in earlier studies we have offered a rational economic explanation of the banks' behavior and practices in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-145
Author(s):  
İsmail Güllü

Yarım aşırı aşan bir geçmişe sahip Almanya’ya göç olgusu beraberinde önemli bir edebi birikimi (Migrantenliteratur) de getirmiştir. Farklı adlandırmalar ile anılan bu edebi birikim, kendi içinde de farklı renkleri de barındıran bir özelliğe sahiptir. Edebi yazını besleyen en önemli kaynaklardan biri toplumdur. Yazarın içinde yaşadığı toplumsal yapı ve problemler üstü kapalı veya açık bir şekilde onun yazılarına yansımaktadır. Bu bağlamda araştırma, 50’li yaşlarında Almanya’ya giden ve ömrünün sonuna kadar orada yaşayan, birçok edebi ve düşünsel çalışması ile Türk edebiyatında önemli bir isim olan Fakir Baykurt’un “Koca Ren” ve Yüksek Fırınlar” adlı romanları ile birlikte Duisburg Üçlemesi’nin son kitabı olan “Yarım Ekmek” romanında ele aldığı konu ve roman kahramanları üzerinden din ve gelenek olgusu sosyolojik bir yaklaşımla ele alınmaktadır. Toplumcu-gerçekçi çizgide yer alan yazarın, uzun yıllar yaşadığı Türkiye’deki siyasi ve ideolojik geçmişi bu romanda kullandığı dil ve kurguladığı kahramanlarda kendini göstermektedir. Romanda Almanya’nın Duisburg şehrinde yaşayan Türklerin yeni kültürel ortamda yaşadıkları çatışma, kültürel şok, arada kalmışlık, iki kültürlülük temaları ön plandadır. Yazar romanda sadece Almanya’daki Türkleri ele almamakta, aynı zamanda Türkiye ile hatta başka ülkeler ile de ilişkilendirmeler yaparak bireysel ve toplumsal konuları ele almaktadır. Araştırmada, romanda yer alan dini ve geleneksel unsurlar sosyolojik olarak analiz edilmiştir. Genel anlamda bir göç romanı olma özelliği yanında Yarım Ekmek romanında dini, siyasi ve ideolojik birçok yorum ve tartışma söz konusudur. Romandaki bu veriler, inanç, ritüel, siyaset ve toplumsal boyutlarda kategorize edilerek ele alınmıştır.  ENGLISH ABSTRACTReligion and identity reflections in literature of immigrant: Religion and Tradition in Fakir Baykurt’s novel Yarım EkmekThe immigration fact which has nearly half century in Germany have brought a significant literal accumulation (Migrantenliteratur) in its wake. This literal accumulation, which is named as several denominations, has a feature including different colours in itself. One of the most important source snourishing literature is society. Societal structure and problems that the writer lives inside, directly or indirectly reflect on his/her compositions. In this context, the matter of religion and tradition by way of the issue and fictious characters in the novel of Fakir Baykurt who went to Germany in her 50’s and lived in there till his death and who is a considerable name in Turkish literature with his several literal and intellectual workings; “Yarım Ekmek” which is the third novel of Duisburg Trilogy with “Koca Ren” and “Yüksek Fırınlar” are discussed sociologically in the study. The political and ideological past of the socialist realist lined writer in Turkey where he spent his life for a long time, manifest itself on the speech and fictious characters of novel. In the novel, themes of new Turks’ conflict, cultural shock, being in the middle, bi culturalism in their new cultural nature in Duisburg which is the city they live in. The writer not only deals with Turks in Germany but also personal and social subjects via comparing them to Turkey and even other countries. In the study, religious and traditional elements analyzed sociologically. Besides the speciality of being a migration novel in general, there are a lot of religious, political and ideological interpretations and discussions in the novel. These datum in the novel are examinated in the context of belief, ritual, politics and social categorisation. 


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