Reconceptualising the relationship between the creative economy and the city: Learning from the financial crisis

This paper uses the financial crisis as an opportunity to examine a number of key questions about the relationship of the creative economy and the city. We argue that weak conceptualisation of the nature of the relationship between the creative economy and the city, as well as a lack of clarity about what the creative economy is, has subverted debates about this important topic. This paper comprises four major sections: the first introduces the field of the creative economy, the second section seeks to clarify what exactly we mean by the term financial crisis; here we highlight the multifaceted character of the financial crisis and is variable impacts across the field of the creative economy. The third part outlines the range and diversity of the actually existing relations between the creative economy and the city. In the fourth section we reflect upon the earlier argument to consider what we can learn about the impacts (actual and expected) of the financial crisis on the creative economy and the city, and additionally to reflect upon what this might indicate about the changing and perhaps transformed relationship between the creative economy and the city in the last quarter century.

► Examines a number of key questions about the relationship of the creative economy and the city. ► Argues for better conceptualisation of the relationship of the creative economy and the city. ► Considers what we can learn about the impact of the financial crisis on the creative economy and the city. ► Reviews the changing relationship between the creative economy and the city in the last 25 years.