CULTURE, COMMUNICATIONS AND COOPERATION: THE THREE CS OF THECREATIVE CITYMaurizio Carta

Department of Urban and Regional PlanningUniversity of PalermoVia dei Cartari 19b. I-90138 Palermo. ItalyPhone: +39-091-60790302. Fax: +39-091-60790113. E-mail: mcarta@unipa.it

Abstract

The network of European creative cities is a powerful new configuration of dynamic,innovative and action-oriented cities, able to transform the space using their culturalarmature. From a vision in which the more competitive cities are those able to attract thecreative class must go to a vision in which the city becomes generates creativity, presentsitself as a powerful incubator of economies based on creativity, culture, research and artisticproduction. The cities will have to invest in the experience economy, strengthening their identity. The creative city, therefore, is an active tension, that requires a forward-looking, andcalls us to action. Does a form of town planning exist which might help cities become morecreative? This is the task we have set ourselves. We can summarize factors of citycompetitiveness as the “Three Cs of the Creative City”.The most important factor in terms of urban creativity is

Culture

the city’s identity, steeped inhistory yet also extending into the future. The talent of a city, its most distinctive andcompetitive resource, is its cultural identity, its diversity as a product of its history. The talentof a city must also generate value; it must be submerged in the virtuous circle of the cultureeconomy, the geography of experience, the design of quality.The second factor of urban creativity is

Communication

namely a city’s ability to inform,divulge information and involve in real time its citizens and multitude of users. The use of communication technology makes possible interventions aimed at cutting down congestionand deterioration: a city which makes effective use of innovation technology is, indeed, alsoone which cuts down on travelling, keeps a check on pollution and improves the way wework, delocalizing services and repositioning their centrality.And finally, the third factor,

Cooperation

since in global, multicultural cities, tolerance doesnot simply imply the toleration of other cultures and ethnic groups which remain at themargins of mainstream city life. The challenge faced by creative cities lies instead in theexplicit acceptance of diversity, through cooperation between all city residents, between citycentres and suburbs and all its diverse component parts. The creative city is a city capable of mobilizing its diverse component parts in the pursuit of a plan for the future.A creative city, therefore, feeds upon the fertile interaction between

Culture

Communication

and

Cooperation

, essential resources for city councils, planners, architects and designerssince they represent the very pinnacle of their work, an indispensable guide towardsinnovation and quality production, balancing free enterprise and initiative and contributing tothe overall happiness of the communities they seek to serve.

1. Creative cities: an action-oriented manifesto

Century, cities will be the backdrop for competition over forms of energy, humanresources, collective know-how and creativity; the essential requirements for change morecompatible with territorial identities and aptitudes and more sustainable in terms of resourcesand local sensibilities. The twenty-first century is without doubt set to be the “age of cities”,forming a benchmark against which a nation’s development shall be measured. In 2007, for the first time in the history of humankind, more than half the world’s population lives in cities,the distinction between an urban environment inserted into a predominantly rural world isnow a thing of the past, ushering in an era in which the city – in whichever form it may take –is the most prevalent context for human habitation. There is a whole world of cities, pulsatingcentres throughout our territorial system, framework hubs of communities which increasinglyidentify with cities, urban living and lifestyles. The urban population of Europe is now inexcess of 75%, whilst in developing countries this figure is soon set to reach 50%. The worldwill continue to develop both around the great megalopolis, home to tens of millions of inhabitants, as well as around metropolitan cities, widespread conurbations and micro citiesframeworks: the urban framework of global cities will be interlinked, predominantly in Europe,with that of secondary cities; offering an alternative to the explosive nature of megalopolis.The European “Local Capitals” takes the form of clusters around cities of culture; where acity is understood not merely as a location offering deeply-rooted cultural resources, theremnants of history itself, but places capable of generating new forms of culture:

culture-based competition cities

are, indeed, those capable of competing on the internationalscenario through the optimization and promotion of their own cultural identity, whether this bewell-established or in the stages of development.Within the context of European urban frameworks, a challenge to which governors, planners,managers, promoters and investors are called to respond, is the creation of cities which aredesirable places to inhabit, especially in terms of recreating those community values whichare believed to produce a sense of citizenship. On the other hand, cities shall also beexpected to produce and optimize every city-specific opportunity, namely local-globalinteraction, trade as a relational factor, leisure as a composite part of urban life and well-being, the increasing demand for cultural production in this era of access, knowledge as aresource to be portioned out and access, taking the place of ownership, as a means of relating to others.In terms of development, mankind’s ambitions, desires and reasoning, with creativity seen asa powerful, generating force and knowledge as a mighty form of organizational energy, arereplacing both spatial localization, natural resources and market access as the key resourcein urban competition. The creativity of those inhabiting, using or moving through cities willshape the future success of metropolis, allowing some of them to become “capital cities”even if they are not centrally positioned or in possession of considerable primary resources,but cities capable nonetheless of intercepting the flows of energy, people and capitalconstantly criss-crossing the planet.Numerous cities are, in effect, incubating what might be considered a “creative class” trueand proper, drawing in the localization of those forms of knowledge, competence andmanpower which feed into the supply of certain types of urban quality, new services and newliving styles - including nomadic ones - crucial for the development of new opportunities andcreativity.Within this current context of frenetic, differentiated and multi-faceted evolution in our cities,we might yet discern two common denominators: the

rise of the creative class

and the

role of urban creativity

as the main source of new economic development. Nowadays, having

reached the highest pinnacle of the Quaternary sector (namely services and intellectualactivities), we are now facing an explosion within the "Quinary" sector (that dealing withstrategic approaches to government, sciences, education and an

information-oriented

economy), where our requirements undergo profound change, our needs re-shaped,decision-making processes revolutionized and the shape of human settlements radicallytransformed: new centres emerge across the globe, cities become polycentric, distributedacross networks, they try out new relationships with their territory.Against this backdrop of constant change, an understanding of how cities are changingbecomes vital, recognizing not only the role played by “agents of creativity” in thedevelopment of cities, but also that commitment to this “urban creativity” constitutes anessential factor in the evolution of communities and economic development. It is a matter of placing the viewpoints of town planners alongside those of sociologists and economists in anappraisal of the creative class and the

creative industries

: why should we restrict ourselves tothinking that only a limited number of professions help generate the creativity of a city, whynot consider the city itself, the collective intelligence of its inhabitants and users, as bringingtogether those first essential sparks needed to ignite the resources, production and qualityneeded to fuel the development of cities, so that they might “guide the planet" through theurban century?

2. The Three Cs of the creative city

The creative city challenge is now well underway and has found an impressive partner inUNESCO, with the constitution of the

Creative Cities Network

which links cities planning totrade with and invest in the creativity industry which, according to UNESCO, currentlyaccounts for around 7% of gross domestic product around the world, generating internationaltrade worth more than 59 billion dollars in 2002 and increasing at a rate of more than 7% per annum. “The Economy of Culture” report, presented by the European Commission in 2006,estimated that 5.8 million people work in the creative industries (3.1% of total employmentfigures in Europe); in particular, the communication sector and those of design andmultimedia generated a turnover of 654 billion Euros in 2003. In Europe, the sector accountsfor 2.6% of the GDP (European Commission, 2006).Whilst it is true that creativity is fast becoming an important factor in the economicdevelopment of nations, it might also be said that the creativity of cities might become animportant factor in the generation of new urban economies and as a result, those cities whichbecome increasingly creative will also be increasingly capable of generating not only qualityand innovation but also a reputation associated with these processes. Many cities – both inthe West and with amazing speed also the East – are generating new urban phenomena,new urbanizations which are the product of the new ways communities are living within suchcities. Does a form of town planning exist which might help cities become more creative?This is the task we have set ourselves.We will start with the three economic development keys Florida considers capable of sustaining the installation of the creative class: Technology, Talent and Tolerance arepowerful elements of competitiveness and indicators of urban attractiveness. But there is afourth T:

Territory

is also an enormously important resource, supplying the

soft

economy

–the economy of local excellence – and acting as a producer of value in “territorial capitalism”,where capital is essentially spatial, identity-based and relational. We cannot, therefore,merely calculate the presence and worth of the three Ts, but must combine them with thefourth: the Territory of these considerations is the City which, by interacting with the creativeclass acts as a “catalyst”, producing not only a form of energy which spans and animatessociety and breathes new life into the economy, but is also an authentic form of urban energyactivating the power engine of the city, generating community change.We can summarize factors of city competitiveness as the three Cs. The most important factor in terms of urban creativity is

Culture,

the city’s identity, steeped in history yet also extendinginto the future. The talent of a city, its most distinctive and competitive resource, is its culturalidentity, its diversity as a product of its history. The talent of a city must also generate value; itmust be submerged in the virtuous circle of the culture economy, the geography of