White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 3Cultural openness towards differentpeople and ideas is a crucial element incultivating and sustaining creativeclimates: it is above all externalinfluences that drive existing contextsto compare with others and regeneratecontinually, thus impeding thefossilisation of rules and habits whicheventually become obsolete and stiflecreativity. As Peter Hall pointed out inhis study on past examples, at theheight of their creativity andsplendour, all the great creative citieswere cosmopolitan and attractedtalents from every corner of the world.They were places where differentworlds and forms of knowledgecrossed over and blended.3.6 Risks and dilemmas forcreative citiesThe rise and development ofincreasingly creative cities attractinggrowing numbers of highly skilledpeople is not without dangers andnegative effects which can often leavecities facing major dilemmas on thestrategies to be pursued.Both academic research and practicalbusiness experience teach us thaturban renewal, high attractiveness andthe presence of a flourishing marketfor cultural and recreational activitiesmay end up producing undesiredeffects.1) Firstly, the presence of amenitiesand a high attractiveness inevitablytend to push up house prices (a linkagebetween the presence of a creativeclass, talents, high immigration andhigh house prices has beendemonstrated both in the UnitedStates and in some Europeancountries). This phenomena may pushout of the city some key players in theurban creative processes, such asyoung people, artists or universitystudents, thus undermining thecapacity to nourish creativity throughnew ideas and crossovers.2) The renewal process and risingprices tend to encourage the processesof “gentrification”, which oftenstandardises the social fabric (and attime also the aesthetic andarchitectural feel) of many quarters,thus diminishing their authenticity andinnovative thrust.3) Lastly, the gradually splitting of thecreative élites – i.e. those who manageto find mechanisms for social andeconomic recognition – from thegroups who remain excluded from thecreative economy, not onlyundermines the very foundations ofdevelopment and long-term creativeprocesses, but may generate dangeroussocial tensions and exacerbate regionalproblems and difficulties in managingthe relationship between the creativecentre and the increasingly excludedperipheries.Some of these aspects of have alreadybeen observed and analysed by thetheoreticians of the creative economy(Florida, 2002, 2005) and other expertswho have highlighted the limits ofone-dimensional developmentWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 81