Competition Behind Creativity: A Southern European Perspective
Competition Behind Creativity: A Southern European Perspective

Summary/Abstract: Analyses of global cities and competitiveness have become dominant in urban studies debates in recent years, putting the focus on the identity of the city and the global economic processes in which it is involved. This attention has been misleading because it has taken attention away from ordinary cities and other aspects of the urban process. The analytical frame for this city renaissance can be described as a combination between the ‘hard’ laws of the new and classic urban economy with ‘soft’ elements of other, often geographical, approaches. ‘Creative City’ analyses in mainstream versions such as those of Florida regard immaterial elements as knowledge and creativity to be essential dimensions for success in post-industrial cities and can be considered the perfect synthesis of the approaches quoted above. In this paper the methodological and theoretical bases of these mainstream policies will be challenged. The case of Rome will be analysed in order to demonstrate that the Creative City narrative can be applied as a label to secondary cities, but that it fails to understand the very core of social mechanisms in a city.

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