Creative cities - an international perspective

This contribution to the Urban Studies field discusses the evolution of the Creative City concept and the factors underlying its classification and ranking through indices and international policy regimes. This reveals a convergence of the creative city as a meta-brand within which these various creativity factors and conditions serve as a basket of sub-brands. These concepts are then presented through an international survey of creative city and related policies; the strategies adopted by cities and regions; and how these are rationalised and identified with particular cultural sectors and practices - and at different spatial scales. This analysis in particular distinguishes between large and smaller cities and their respective interpretation of the creative city, in a field dominated by metropolitan ‘creative capitals’. The discussion situates the creative city concept alongside other city associations and the economic recession that has tempered the ‘growth through creativity’ approach to urban economic development.