OECD Culture and Local Development.pdf - PACA

4. THE CULTURAL FABRIC OF CITIES
The spatial distribution of employment, by industry
The first, and most widespread, approach is that taken by Scott in his work “The
Cultural Economy of Cities” (Scott, 2000). Using employment statistics for different
economic sectors, he attempts to demonstrate linkages between the degree of
concentration of such employment and urban phenomena. He shows, for example,
that in the United States the cultural industries are concentrated primarily in
metropolitan areas (cities of over one million). These cities are home to 52% of the
American working population, yet they account for 96.8% of jobs in moviemaking, 77%
in architecture, and 66% in book publishing. Table 4.3. shows that the urban concentration
of cultural industries is very high (with the exception of radio and television, which
reflects the great number of local broadcasting stations), while other industries that
we might class as creative industries are less highly concentrated: musical instrument
making, decorative wooden objects, etc..
Table 4.3. The urban concentration of cultural industries
Activity Number of jobs Number of jobs % of sector jobs in
in metropolitan in the USA (000). metropolitan
areas (000) areas (%)
Cinema 241 249 96.8
Radio/TV 102 221 46
Book publishing 53 79 66
Newspapers 190 417 45
Architecture 93 121 77
Musical instruments 3 12 26
Jewellery 29 46 63
Leatherworking 4 11 42
Woodworking 26 121 23
Metalworking 9 25 35
Source: US Department of Commerce (1992) and Scott, A.J. (2003): “Cultural Capital and the Theory of Development”, ILO, p. 7
There is nothing surprising about this result. As indicated in the previous chapter,
these project activities thrive best in close proximity to each other, which explains
such groupings. But this analysis, while it identifies an important fact, does not always
explain the local dynamics: for this, there are other possible methods.
The cultural value chain
In his study on the city of Manchester, O’Connor resorts to the “production chain
model” 117 . He starts by defining the cultural production sector to cover various activities
(Table 4.4.):
152 CULTURE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - ISBN 92-64-00990-6 - © OECD 2005