Abstract

PRADA TRIGO, José. The debate about creativity and economy in cities and current role of local actors: some evidence from the case study of Madrid. Invest. Geog [online]. 2015, n.87, pp.62-75. ISSN 2448-7279.  https://doi.org/10.14350/rig.40700.

Over the last decades there has been a profusion of studies that put their emphasis on the importance of the so-called creative economy on economic growth and regional development. In the case of Europe, has been highlighted the potential of cultural and creative economy to become the new engine of the economy after the slowdown experienced by financial services during the economic crisis of 2008 (Pratt, 2009:495). This topic has been the subject of attention even supranational organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the European Union or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Thus, there has been widespread the interest in introducing this concept into the political agendas of many cities, resulting in new competitive dynamics between those seeking to become creative cities (Martí-Costa y Pradell, 2012:93). However, despite the strong development of the concept of creative economy and its broad impact in political and academic circles, the literature on the creative economy, creative classes and creative cities has been criticized both for its conceptual definition and character asepticsuch as for responding to interests of certain economic groups or hide phenomena of urban segregation.

From these ideas, this paper proposes a reinterpretation of the role of creativity in the economic and regional development, considering that it is itself one of its key elements and that certain "emerging" sectors use the creativity in its operation. In this paper the focus is on creativity as an engine of development rather than as a binding factor of the sectors that generate it. From this perspective, emphasizes the importance of creativity in the economic and regional development through its impact on a number of "emerging and creative industries" (audiovisual, architecture, design, etc.) mentioned in most studies. However, they also exist other economic areas (usually excluded, as the culture itself or social engagement) with capacity to boost economic and territorial development from different fields of creativity.

First, the economy itself includes various activities not easily quantifiable but which help to shape the tissue of the "creative economy". Second, we should distinguish the culture itself of those other cultural expressions that, by adding a "plus" creative seek economic development, attracting visitors and improving the quality of urban life through festivals, art walks and exhibitions. Finally, in the field of social movements can be found initiatives which, without losing their initial characteristics (social inclusion, claimand demands, otherness...) seek approaching economic activities to allow a livelihood to its protagonists (André y Réis, 2009; Leslie y Rantisi, 2010).

These ideas are transferred to a case study in the city of Madrid, after a first critical reflection on the distribution of employment in the creative sectors and their recent evolution. In the case study, several entrepreneurs belonging to existing social movements in the city, saw the possibility of creating alternative business in a traditional market, recovering from the lethargy in which he found himself.

Since alternative funding ways (cooperatives, crowdfunding, etc.) they opened new activities, aiming for a new trade in closeness well in line with the character of the neighborhood. The purpose was not to displace the traditional trade but to integrate it into the same project. The space has also become a new leisure and meeting point because the project includes other recreational and cultural offerings. In this case, as Margulies (2013) notes creativity has spread to other, traditional sectors which has added an extra creativity to boost activities in principle fall outside the statistics released by traditional studies. From the case study of Market San Fernando, it can be said that although the "official" discourse on the creative economy can provide some insights on the distribution and the weight of these sectors and their impact on other economic activities, the emergence of certain theoretical and methodological concerns and their inability to show a much more complex reality require its combination with other approaches and other analysis techniques, especially when it descends to more specific territorial levels, which tend to emphasize the richest range of possibilities and broader definitions offered by the concept of creativity.

Keywords : Creative industries; urban policies; local actors; urban development.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )