Creative City

INURA International Conference 2004,June  13ö20, Amsterdam

At the start of the twenty-first century Îcreativityâ has become the new catchword in debates on urban development. Nowadays, there are growing numbers of self-appointed creative cities concerned with an indistinct mixture of issues ranging from culture and art to technological innovation and creative urban planning. Underlying this focus on creativity in urban space is a concern with wider societal transitions. Ever-larger shares of the working population in western economies are primarily engaged in creative professions, in the production of ideas rather than actual material goods. Artists, designers, university professors, writers, performers, but also researchers, consultants and engineers are all performing creative jobs. They are working on new ideas and concepts rather than along the lines of fully dictated templates.

In effect, creativity is increasingly Îmainstreamedâ in the economy. It is increasingly seen as something to be stimulated and management studies show a growing range of guides to improve the creative potential of firms, working environments and employees. Most studies emphasize a need for openness, tolerance, diversity and a positive attitude towards change and deviation from prevailing standards. All these elements are now increasingly projected upon the character of urban environments as well. Creativity will only flourish, and creative people will only flock to urban environments that are open, tolerant, diverse and that welcome change and deviation.

In the 2004 Conference INURA-Amsterdam aims to take up the rise of the creative city as the major theme. In the seventies and eighties squatters, artists and other artistically creative people squatted buildings throughout Amsterdam at a fairly large scale. Some of these buildings were eventually legalized by the local government and are still creative hot spots in the city. Other sites were evicted. In 1998 a group of residents and users of different squatted buildings that were under threat of being evicted submitted a petition to the municipal council, demanding constructive measures to stop the elimination of those creative spaces. Shortly after the municipality decided to formulate a special policy to realize affordable working and living spaces for artists and groups of artists and associated creative entrepreneurs. This broedplaatsen policy (literally Îbreeding groundsâ) has evoked both positive and negative reactions. Yet, it seems Amsterdamâs history and reputation as a squatterâs city play an important part in the cityâs reputation as, and pursuit to be a creative place. During the conference field trips will be made to grassroots legal and still formally illegal creative freezones as well as to the broedplaatsen realised under municipal control.

The Amsterdam context does raise particular questions about the relation between creativity and urban space. How can creative freezones or broedplaatsen be stimulated or facilitated? Does creativity necessarily have to generate some economic spin-off, as policy makers seem to believe? Does too much municipal regulation kill the creative potential of those places? What is the relation between local creative initiatives and processes of globalisation? Is creativity now primarily the business of global players who have Îmainstreamedâ creativity in their organizations, or is there still an important role for small-scale local initiatives? Do freezones and broedplaatsen add to the openness, tolerance and diversity of urban space?

Furthermore, questions can be asked about the relation between creativity and urban planning. At first sight the disorderly character of creativity does not match with the idea of planning very well. Still, urban planners seem increasingly interested in creative modes of urban planning. What would creative urban planning look like? Are there successful examples of creative planning? How would creative planning transform the urban landscape and the planning process? Should planners devote to the development of open, tolerant and diverse urban environments? How are we to understand Îtolerance?

Finally, questions can be asked about the continuity of creative cities. Creativity is about renewal and novelty. It requires a constant stream of new inputs and new creative people. Amsterdam has a congested housing market, though. Circulation in the housing market stagnates and housing prices go up. New creative talents have a hard time finding space in the city. How could the continuity of creativity in urban space be stimulated? Why are there no signs of new counter-movements like the ones that objected the establishment in the sixties, seventies and early eighties? And, how long does a reputation as a creative place last? INURA-Amsterdam invites you to join us in the INURA annual conference in June 2004 as we will be thinking and debating about these questions.

Public event Monday 14 June

Links to the creative city debate in Amsterdam