MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY DEPERTMENT OF CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING
CRP 488 | INSTITUTIONAL ASPECT OF PLANNING TERM PAPER
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES -Shanghai Sinay COSKUN 2139244
1. Introduction By the end of 1990s, there were many discussions based on the rapid growth of both cultural and creative economies. As it was commonly mentioned by some of the masterminds of these discussions and studies, Allen J. Scott in 1997, John Howkins in 2001 and Richard Florida in 2002, the new type of economy is different than the old type of industries, these differences are mainly based on the production, consumption and association with space or geography. Florida, discusses the term ‘’creative class’’ that indicates the relationship between new type of economy and urban growth, which results in the prominence of urban opportunities and innovative conditions. This study aims at emphasizing the new relationship between creative economy (means creative industries) and urban spaces by putting an extra emphasis on the countries similar to the case of China and more specifically on the creative industry districts in Shanghai. Creative industry districts are emergent primarily by the regional development policies and enterprises; it is also clear that the socio-cultural reproduction of process has great importance. Shanghai is selected due to its high performance in creative industry activities and being connected with global economy. It is a cosmopolitan city with its history of colonialism and hybrid urban culture, which in turn affects the contemporary development of its creative activities; that’s why Shanghai is called as ‘’ the dragon head of China’’ means it has been increasingly active role in the global division of labor in the new economy.
2. Creative Industries Creative industries are spreading rapidly and worldwide throughout the last decade, but it is not a well-defined term in an academic sense and its characteristics are not fully recognized by the practitioners. In this section, summary of current creative studies, literature and approaches are represented.
2.1 Defining Creative Industries In current studies, association of the terms ‘’creative industry’’, ‘’cultural industry’’ and ‘’creative economy’’ is deeply examined. The term ‘’creative economy’’ was embraced by John Howkins (2001) to characterize the modern economy that relied on intellectual property. Creative industry, as a more specific term, is located at the center of creative economy (UNCTAD 2008). The relation between creative industry and cultural industry is not clear enough; thus, there is a term called ‘’creative cultural industry’’ especially relied in Chinese vocabulary. Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MIT) (2003) defines the creative industry as a wider concept of cultural industry this means new economy includes or covers the cultural economy (see Fig. 2.1). This approach is applied in organizational and statistical studies.
Figure 2.1 Singapore model of creative industries
Source: Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore (MTI) (2003)
The Singapore model assumes that copyright industries are extension of the creative industries. On the contrary, for European society, creative industries are the sub-term of cultural industries in consequence of nonprofit social and cultural output of these industries (Pratt 2004; Marcus 2005). Urban geographer, Scott (2004), lays emphasis on individuality, self- affirmation and social display for the costumers in cultural product industries. Florida (2002) lays emphasis on ‘’creative class’’; he asserts that it is the engine of the creative economy; thus it is the thing that draw creative capital. The most effective phrase was established by the UK Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), reflecting Lash and Urry’s realization of importance of ‘’intellectual property’’. According to DCMS, the creative industries are: Those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. (DCMS 2001) According to DCMS, creative industries includes 13 sectors which are advertising, architecture, arts and antique markets, crafts, design, designer fashion, fi lm, video and photography, software, computer games and electronic publishing, music and visual and performing arts, publishing, and TV, radio, video, and computer games. There are many different definitions of creative industry and its classification in different industrial backgrounds. Here, the main reasons for these differences ate industrial activity level and specializations of nations (see Table 2.1). As a learning period of the new economy, the Chinese government follows the approaches of Western countries toward creative industries (O’Connor and Xin 2006).
Table 2.1 Classification systems of creative industries in typical nations of the world
China, Shanghai
UK
Germany
Research and Development
Advertising
Industry design, product and packaging design, IT and software design, advertisement and design, craft Architecture and design
Architecture
The core sectors of the cultural industries Publishing industries fi lm industries, music, visual and performing arts, journalists/news agencies
Architectural design, urban design Culture media Literature and art creation, publishing, journalism, music and performing arts, media (TV, fi lm, radio), network medium
Crafts
Art and antiques market
Design Fashion
Museum shops, arts exhibitions, retail trade of cultural goods, architectural offi ces, design industries The new creative sectors Advertising Manufacture of software/games
Source: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-01976-5.pdf
2.2 World’s Creative Industries Creative and cultural industries became clear to public opinion and started to affect economy and national policy in major cities across Europe, i.e., London, Paris, and Venice Biennale. However, creative industries were not recognized and seen as a triggering factor of urban and regional competitiveness by the decision-makers, until the 1990s. In chronological order, the term ‘’creative industries’’ first used by Australian government in 1994 in the development strategy of ‘’Creative Nation’’. After Australian government, in 1997, UK government, Department of Culture, Media and Sport made a great effort in order to promote its developments with a well-known Creative Industries Task Force. Both local and worldwide follower of DCMS, watch out in order to promote the development of creative industries in both soft environments of policy and hard environment of facilities; thus, the world now finds itself in a current of “creative movement.” (He, 2014). The reason for this worldwide interest is the economic output of contemporary international trade. The sum and the substance of this part; creative sectors have been growing over the past decades; they are catching public and private attention of both private and public sectors all around the world. Creative industries have a significant role as a dynamic sector, the term is not only theoretic but also realistic.
3. Case Study In this part of the study, some of the basic characteristics of Shanghai’s creative industries are realized. As the primary step, China is also mentioned in terms of development of creative activities. Shanghai applies the new model of economy together with the industry districts model as a cure-all for the reconstruction of urban economy and function. Briefly saying, increasing rate of young population working in creative sectors is regenerating a social structure of the city (He, 2014).
3.1 Creative Industries in China After the rapid growth of manufacturing industries, development of high- value-added cultural industries also joined into the Chinese mainstream policy making (O’Connor and Xin 2006). The most significant emphasize on this issue was made by the 9 th National People’s Congress (NPC) in 2001 and it was followed by ‘’Blue Books of China’s Industries’’ which highlights the new economic system in different regions of China. Decision makers of the country adopt creative industries now only due to its economic potentials but also due to its potential to a wider realization to enhance China’s soft power with innovation and increased culture resources. Recently, there is a phenomenon that creative industries are put forward by Chinese authorities. This phenomenon is likely to be resulting from lack of official and statistical data for sectors of creative industries in Chinese system. The major sector of creative industries in China is the design industry i.e., graphic, fashion, glassware, interior, jewelry, toys, which takes up more than 70 % share of the exports of the creative goods in 2005 (UNCTAD 2008). According to a market analysis by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI 2004), Chinese design industry has been increasing rapidly since a decade ago. Fast growing of several Chinese megacities are called as knowledge centers such as Shanghai, Guangdong and Beijing. These cities lead to a new approach which represents a shift from ‘’made in China’’ to ‘’designed in China’’ at both regional and global scales. In addition to all those, researches conducted by Datamonitor shows the tendency of growth of specific creative activities in the country such as publishing, broadcasting, software, advertising etc. According to the researches software industry grew significantly among the others with an annual growth rate of double-digit since 2005 which is in the same period with the time of world economic crisis in 2009 (see figures 3.1).
Figure 3.1 Market value and growth rate of selected creative industries in mainland China
Sources: Datamonitor (2009)
3.2 Creative Industries in Shanghai
Figure 3.2 Old colonial zones in Shanghai (1981)
Dating back to the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, Shanghai is a high density trading city as a result of the first Sino-British Opium War. Later, Shanghai was colonized by Western powers and virginally emerged nations such as American, French and Japanese; that’s why colonial zones of the city were finally expanded and constructed by International Settlement and French Concession (see figure 3.1). The city has become one of the most significant trading and commercial center of China, in time (Yusuf and Wu 1997). It connects the midland country with the outer world and Western countries.
Source: Wu (2004)
Over the past two decades Shanghai has become the ‘’dragon head’’ of china thanks to the rapid economic growth. Its average growth rate is over double digits. Even at the time of world financial crisis (2008–2009), Shanghai maintained a high growth speed of 8.2 %. By 2009, the GDP per capita of Shanghai was $ 11451 (vs. $3680 of national level), equivalent to the level of moderately developed countries, i.e., South Korea and Singapore (Shanghai Basic Facts 2010). On the other hand, the distinct increase of investments in cultural activities emerged as a functional transformation of Shanghai. AS an example, recently built cultural facilities such as Shanghai Grand Theater (1998, cost $150 million), Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall (2000), Oriental Art Center (2000) and Orient Green Land (2003) (Shanghai Basic Facts, 2010). Cultural facilities mentioned above provide the creative economy with fundamental conditions. Still, the gap between Shanghai world’s financial and service cities i.e., London, in terms of economic structure. The difficulty here for Shanghai is likely to be seen as the way of enhancing its function in service and knowledge based economic sectors both at national and global scales. Different than other Chinese cities’ economic activities; Shanghai municipal authorities highlighted the significance of developing cultural industries as early as the 1990s (He, 2014). Cultural industries were classified as manufacturing, culture retailing and culture service and then, the cities like Los Angles and London recognized creative industries as the new dynamics of the economic development by the end of 1990s, while Shanghai followed them closely with a series of newly published policies, space incentives with respect to land use right and reconstruction of old architecture. In 2004, Shanghai established a semi-governmental organization, Shanghai Creative Industry Center (SCIC), which primarily takes charge of management and service for the enterprises based in creative industry parks and offers advisory for policy making, assistance with research, and evaluation for the government (SCIC 2011). Due to the basic characteristics of industrial structures in the city, creative industries purified by SCIC and they are classified into 5 main sectors which are R&D, architecture and design, culture media, advisory planning and fashion consumption. Finally, the latest 12th Five-Year Plan of Shanghai (2011) for targeting creative industries set out a definite goal that by the end of 2015 the proportion of creative industries in overall GDP of Shanghai should reach to about 12 % – a big leap forward from 9.17 % in 2011 (He, 2014). Increasing interest of policy makers in creative industries relies on its having a catch-up process by learning and realization that the regional competitiveness in the era of the new economy lies in the innovation or creativity of technology and culture. Creative industries in Shanghai has a growth rate which is much higher than the overall economy of the city; and that means the proportion of creative industries in the share of GDP increased rapidly. It is good to say that all these facts indicate that creative industries in Shanghai has become the new engine of city’s economy. Still, it is clear that there is a great gap across different categories of creative industries in Shanghai (see figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3 Segments of creative industries of Shanghai 2009 by GDP
Source: Shanghai Creative Industries Development Report (2009)
With the considerable support of Shanghai government, software industry, as one of the leading categories of creative industries in Shanghai, increased most quickly with an annual rate over 50 % by the year 2000. Shanghai is ranked as the largest base of software service in China; remarkably, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park is one of the largest clusters of IT in China (SCIDR 2006 –2010). At the same time, advisory planning industries have also grown rapidly recently. It contains the largest number of enterprises in creative industries with a proportion of 45 % according to the Shanghai Creative Industries Development Report (2006 –2010) (see figure 3.4) All in all, Shanghai has become the largest ‘’know-how’’ center of the country with its consulting firms more than 18,000. Figure 3.4 Annual growth rate of creative sectors by GDP (2004–2008)
Source: Shanghai Creative Industries Development Reports (2006 –2010)
Additionally, fashion consumption in Shanghai has also increased such as jewelry and cosmetic which are increasingly designed, produced and distributed. According to Shanghai Commerce Information Center (2011), over 90 % of world luxury brands have their branches or agencies in Shanghai against the background that China has become the second largest market of world luxury and fashion products. The increase in fashion consumption is likely to be seen as a result of increased in the number of wealthy people in Shanghai. Notably, the extreme leap in 2008 by Fashion Consumption industries was caused by the 2008 Olympic Games, which drove the sport and tourism market to flare up shortly after. Furthermore, the architecture and design sector is much different in growth rate comparing with the other quarters. There is an emerging growth of architecture and design industries in 2009, in contrast with relatively low speeds in the previous years. That is likely to be cause of the active fiscal policy that is executed by the Shanghai government at the period of world financial crisis in 2008-2009. Architecture and design industry, together with other design industries (e.g., industrial design, fashion design, software design), made Shanghai the only design incubator at the state level (Shanghai Design Industry Incubator, SDII), which was awarded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of P.R. China. As a result, Shanghai was rewarded as the first “City of Design” in China by UNESCO (2010), (He, 2014). Finally, culture media has the smallest proportion of the creative industries in terms of GDP in previous years but it has a great potential in market and social benefits. Many of the important subsectors of culture media industries, like digital publishing and online games, are in their golden age thanks to the wave of network in China. Culture media industries have different pattern of employment and economic contribution that is actuated by freelance, writers, musicians and artists. Individual employees in cultural industries begin their works by only a small scale studio and a gallery, or even without fixed working area. By 2007, the total number of galleries in Shanghai reached more than 800, with increasing numbers of them being foreign owned, e.g., the well-known ShanghART is operated by a Swiss sinologist (Artelino 2010). Other popular areas of culture media include SH Contemporary (Art Shanghai), Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, and Shanghai Spring Art Salon. After having a look at categories of creative industries in Shanghai, it is easy to see the further division of labor and formation of new occupations and entrepreneurship in Shanghai which are led by the rapid growth of creative industries in the city. Reports shows that the number of workers and enterprises in creative industries of Shanghai increased at a high speed in recent years with an annual growth rate is over 15 % during 2006 and 2009 (SCIDR 2006 – 2010). Almost one million creative workers are employed across a variety of creative districts in Shanghai. Majority of these workers are employed in R&D and advisory planning sectors. Creative workers do not form a new social class distinctly from the existing social structure as in the definition of ‘’creative class’’ by Florida. Literature observed that creative or cultural workers are more possibly youth oriented in age and are more likely to be found in footloose employment, possessing relatively high educational attainment (Hartley, 2005; Funke, 2009; Howkins,2001)
4. Conclusion The spatial organization of the creative industries depends on changing and unpredictable factors so it is complex similar with the reproduction of the social culture. However, this organization is comparable if an evolutionary perspective is used. As in the case of Shanghai, which emerges with a rapid growth of creative industries as a recent phenomenon, space agglomeration of creative clusters is still a new issue of organization. These clusters are growing and expanding toward other potential areas following the steps of urban sprawl and internationalization. With a long-term view, the complete of creative economy in Shanghai might be only a start for the transformation of regional and national economy toward the postindustrial economy. There are also some problems and challenges behind the prosperity of the creative industries. The primary encouragement for agglomeration are to reduce cost in production and looking for marketing opportunities instead of coproduction or improvement of knowledge. Making a balance between commercialization and cultural environment by the non-trading tools other than market capitalism is needed. Apart from these, the main challenge for Shanghai is how to take part into the new division of labor in the world creative economy impetuously. Thus; Shanghai aims not only for transferring its urban economic structure to adopt the new structure of creative industries but also for a larger adjustment of the urban culture and social issues. It is expected that government should take its role in organizing benefits of different social groups and providing a mixed use of land and social, cultural, economic facilities without creating a new social class which is came up with the development of creative industries. In this study, both the changing image of the city with the new economic organization, and social-spatial aspects of economic structure are discussed. There are many theoretical contributions like the reconstruction of the old industrial districts and dilapidated neighborhoods in the inner city, at the aim of constructing more developed organizations contributing the image of the cities.
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................... 0 2. Creative Industries ............................................................. 1 2.1 Defining Creative Industries .......................................... 1 2.2 World’s Creative Industries ........................................... 3 3. Case Study .......................................................................... 4 3.1 Creative Industries in China .......................................... 4 3.2 Creative Industries in Shanghai ..................................... 5 4. Conclusion .......................................................................... 9 Bibliography .......................................................................... 10