OECD Culture and Local Development.pdf - PACA

3. PROMOTING LOCAL DEVELOPMENT BY CREATING CULTURAL PRODUCTS
territorial concentration of composition, recording and publishing activities, while in
the furniture industry, where demand trends are less volatile, networking has won out
over clustering (Maskell & Lorenzen, 2004). They explain this uncertainty by the
conjunction of several factors:
• the product cycle of a CD album is very short,
• consumer tastes and a product’s acceptance are unpredictable, and
• there are many partners that have to be mobilised to introduce a new album,
some of whom will be involved in only part of the process, with others remaining
for the duration of the project.
New partners must constantly be brought in, hence the importance of locating
where the visibility of the cluster as a whole will be greatest. This means that it can
reap more information, reduce transaction costs, and build up social trust. It is only
the major cities that can offer the required music schools and conservatories, recording
studios, and skilled labour.
Cultural and creative districts
The two characteristics of a cultural good — constantly shifting production and
uncertainty — can be resolved through geographic concentration or clustering 90 .
The cluster then appears as a place where the levers of exogenous and of
endogenous growth come into play.
- Exogenous growth occurs to the extent that the district can meet outside
demand for its cultural goods, even when that demand will be satisfied on-site,
for example through visitors’ attendance at museums or festivals.
- Endogenous growth will occur to the extent that the proximity of “players”
allows the conception and production of new products that, it is hoped, will be
in demand once they are released.
It was long thought that in this field, as in others, the emergence of new information
and communication technologies would lessen this need for proximity, just as some
writers insist on distancing themselves the city so they can be “more creative”.
Assuming that this is true, however, it is at best only part of the creative process. Some
artists are relatively immobile, and their products cannot be readily digitised, starting
with tangible works of art, which require direct interaction.
106 CULTURE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - ISBN 92-64-00990-6 - © OECD 2005