Creative city machine

Back to the discussion about the concept creative city. I started to think about different cities in the world. I have travelled quite on lot during my short life. And I have seen many cities. Nice ones, neutral ones and not so nice ones. But none of the cities have I hated. Why?  Well, it is maybe not so clear or self-evident but all the cities have had something interesting or nice in them. Not all of them have been pretty or full with activities or nice people. But they have deserved different meanings. I would not go to Playa del Ingles if I would want experience a historic city with an old culture. But it does not mean that the city could not be creative. It just has a different function. Actually, it would be almost uncreative if all cities in the world would be similar and equally creative. As the authors Luckman, Gibson and Lua point out in one of their articles about the city Darwin and its creativity, one must be realistic – what resources does a city have to be as creative as possible? So, if one does not have a lot of great industry, landscapes or fashionistas, the only solution is to come up with the best with own resources, in a creative way.

This makes sense. I start to understand the concept. It is not the material assets that count but rather the intellectual ones. I would at least like to live in a city which is original. Locally made is always better than ready imported solutions. Think if there would be a creative city factory. The once defined and invented concept of a creative city would be sold and produced all over the world. The mayor of a city could call and order one creative city. Fast delivery and guaranteed success, or? How creative would that actually be? A sort of creative city suicide, I would say. 

Creative city machine

Picture from ArtSlant LA

And the article I mentionned can be found from here

(Susan Luckman, Chris Gibson & Tess Lea (2009): Mosquitoes in the mix: How transferable is creative city thinking?)