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This is the author's version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: O'Connor, Justin (2004) "A special kind of city knowledge" : innovative clusters, tacit knowledge and the 'Creative City'. Media International Australia, 112, pp. 131-149. This file was downloaded from: ❤tt♣✿✴✴❡♣r✐♥ts✳q✉t✳❡❞✉✳❛✉✴✹✸✽✸✻✴ c Copyright 2004 The University of Queensland Notice: Changes introduced as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing and formatting may not be reflected in this document. For a definitive version of this work, please refer to the published source: "A Special Kind of City Knowledge": Innovative Clusters, Tacit Knowledge and the 'Creative City'. Published in Media International Australia, special issue on Creative Networks, No. 112, August 2004, pp.131-149 Justin O'Connor School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds Abstract That the cultural industries are highly networked and operate in clusters is now well established. The notion of cluster is linked to the idea of place-based advantage with cultural industries gaining competitive advantage from mobilising the resources of places to compete in global markets. 'Place' in the cultural industries is frequently taken to be the city where city is seen as the key resource for cultural industry clusters and a primary point of intervention for cultural industry policy in creative city policy making. In this article I want to look at some of the implications of these moves for both academic research and policy discussion. The reasons for this emphasis on policy relates to some large questions of urban governance and cultural politics surrounding the proactive government of clusters which are raised by recent work on the cultural industries, notably by Alan Scott. The Symbolic Economy of Cities The notion of the localised 'cluster' is now well established in academic and policy fields (Porter, 1998a; 1998b; 2000; Storper, 1997). It has been used to understand how particular places manage to retain competitive advantage in a globalising world – and indeed how they might aspire to a stronger position within this. Much of the literature on cultural industries1 coming from an economic geographic perspective has used the concept of 'clusters' - along with the related ones of 'industrial district' and 'innovative milieu' - as a key concept in coming to terms with this emergent sector (Pratt, 1997; 2000;2002; O'Connor 1999: 2002; DCMS 2001). Alan Scott's work is particularly significant here as it represents one of the most cogent and influential statements about the centrality of cultural industries for cities. For Scott (2001), 'commodified cultural production' is characterised by high levels of human input; clusters of small companies operating on a project basis; dense transactional flows of information, goods and services; benefits from economies of scale in skills sourcing and know-how; and complex divisions of labour (driven especially by new ICT developments) tying people to places: 'Clusters like these are 1 replete…with agglomeration economies (i.e. increasing return effects), and agglomeration economies in turn give rise to…potent competitive advantages.' (Scott, 2001:3). In cultural industry literature the cluster and its attributes tend to be mapped onto the city. All the evidence indicates that the great majority of companies are firmly located in metropolitan centres and are likely to remain so (Pratt, 1997; O'Connor, 1999; Scott, 2000). 'Place makes a difference' here means 'cities still matter'. Indeed, much of the cultural industry research and policy agenda in the last twenty years has been driven at the level of the city (O'Connor, 2004). There are certainly other spatial scales having profound impact on the sector (not least in the sphere of legislation and regulation), but it is clear that the city has become a key spatial level for policy intervention. More so than other sectors, the cultural industries are seen to draw vital resources from city life and from city cultures. The city – and most often those with a compact metropolitan core – emerges as the effective horizon of place for the cultural industries. However complex it might be to theorise, cultural industries, in the main, inhabit the city. Agglomeration effects are certainly crucial to this linkage of cluster and city, but cities are seen to add something more than geographical proximity in their 'untraded externalities' and networks of collaboration and trust etc. Central to the debate on clusters is that the competitive advantage to be gained from learning and innovation is to be found in tacit, locally embedded skills and know-how. This emphasis on the genius loci has found great resonance in cultural industries research. The cultural industries are seen to be highly sensitive to embedded cultural knowledge whose mobilisation depends on being 'inside' a place. Hence the intimate links to the image, identity and cultural capital in particular cities. They thrive on easy access to local, tacit know-how – a style, a look, a sound – which is not accessible globally. Thus the cultural industries based on local know-how and skills show how cities can negotiate a new accommodation with the global market, in which cultural producers sell into much larger markets but rely on a distinctive and defensible local base. (Leadbeater and Oakley, 1999:14) Scott, reflecting a growing consensus, has made a strong case for the connection of the cultural industries to the city. He is clear that, ultimately, the knowledge effects of the city provide the key factors in their competitiveness. These effects refer both to city life per se as well as the qualities of particular cities. Scott points to the speed and complexity of city life as central to innovation: 'the rapid, ever-changing circulation of information through the social and economic networks of the city, and the intensity and variety of human contact' which ensure that there is an 'ever present tendency to destabilisation of prevailing norms and practices and a certain propensity for new insights and new ways of proceeding to arise' (Scott, 2001:3). On the other hand there is a persistence of tradition in that cities represent 'collectivities of human activity and interest that continually create streams of public goods – both as a matter of conscious policy and as unintended outcomes of social and economic interaction – that sustain the workings of the creative field.' These are informal in the traditions and conventions that 'ordinarily inhere in any community of workers', in the 'socialization dynamics which ensure that local knowledge is preserved and 2 transmitted from one generation to the next'(i.e. family, social groups, 'the urban community at large'); and in the formal physical and institutional infrastructures (such as schools, colleges, innovation centres etc.) (Scott, 2001:3) For Scott the 'entire local system of production, employment and social life makes up a geographically structured creative field that under appropriate conditions acts as a fountainhead of learning and innovation effects'. The pinnacle of such a creative field is represented by Soja's (Soja, 2000) notion of Synekism which Scott represents as: 'the increment above the simple sum of the parts which holds any urban-industrial cluster together as a geographic cluster, whilst enabling the products of the most successful clusters to achieve mastery of national and international markets'. (Scott, 2001:7) The notion of clusters has thus profound implications for local policy making; and this is more so when, as with the cultural industries, it is mapped directly onto the city. Scott – in an argument with Adorno and Jameson to which we shall return – makes the case for the possibility of diverse centres of global production. The logic of contemporary commodified production and consumption is such that global markets are very much niche markets. They are as volatile as the opportunities they open up. Local production sites, drawing on their own distinct cultural resources can identify and exploit these niches. Such possibilities are enhanced by new information and communication technologies which open up distributional economies of scale to these localities. But this also calls for local policy intervention to ensure competitive advantage: Their survival can be further assured where policy makers at production locals are able to work out effective systems for the provision of co-ordination and steering services directed to the amplification of these agglomeration economies. (Scott, 2001:10) This certainly points us to those local economic development and business support strategies which have been a central element in the spread of the cultural industry agenda, and which we will discuss below. But there is more to it that this. The intimate mapping of city and cluster means that the flow is not unidirectional; the cultural industries work symbiotically with the city. Cultural production and consumption transform the landscape of the city through its 'shopping malls, restaurants and cafés, clubs, theatres, galleries, boutiques'. This 'revitalisation of the symbolic content' of cities draws in city governments, who link these transformations with 'ambitious public efforts of urban rehabilitation in the attempt to enhance local prestige, increase property values and attract new investments and jobs'. When the landscape develops in this manner, whether as a result of public or private initiative, significant portions of the city (though rarely, if ever, all portions) start to function as an ecology of commodified symbolic cultural production and consumption… in which, in contrast to the classic industrial metropolis, the functions of leisure and work seem to be converging in some sort of (historically specific) social equilibrium. (Scott, 2001:7) This urban ecology also involves 'those meanings that adhere to the urban landscape' and which are used as factors in the production of cultural commodities; these 3 meanings are re-assimilated into the 'urban landscape of the producing centre', acting as 'a source of inputs to new rounds of cultural production and commercialisation', and 'a further enrichment of the urban landscape' (Scott, 2001:7). While a full confrontation of issues arising from this discussion is not possible here there are some issues that can be considered in more detail. Tacit and Formal Knowledge in the Cluster Debate The notion of cluster involves the idea of tacit as opposed to formal, codified knowledge. Tacit knowledge is embedded locally - you have to be inside it to know it. Formal knowledge is codified and thus is not tied to place or to a particular cluster – it is therefore transferable. Thus local, endogenous factors are counter posed to more global, exogenous factors to explain the success, to use the now classic example, of industrial districts such as northern Italy and the Ruhr. This aspect of the cluster argument has been subject of considerable debate, only some of which can be addressed here. The cultural industry sector more than any other has been associated with intuitive practice, situated learning-by-doing, non-transferable skills. It thrives in networks which allow access to the range of local cultural capacities (Crewe and Beaverstock, 1998; O'Connor, 1999;Raffo et al, 2000a). Cultural producers are 'inside' the circuit of knowledge because they are embedded in local cultures and networks. This is what makes cultural industry places particularly 'sticky'. Here innovation comes from the creative consumption of global signs – 'a style, a look, a sound'. These signs are plugged into global circuits the local culture transforms these into something unique and thus able to be re-sent out into the world. Crucially this local culture is that of the city, the vibrant metropolis. This is the crucible where innovative consumption meets ear-to-the-ground production; where the ideas, skills, rivalry, part-time jobs, support networks and distribution outlets of the 'innovative milieu', the 'art world', the 'creative field', come together. Questions emerging from the cluster and innovation debate challenge this picture somewhat. There is no denying this locally fixed 'creative field' and its ability to transform its global inputs of signs, images and sounds. Rather the question is whether the full range of knowledge is necessary to do this. The ability to transform an idea and turn it into a commercial product has evolved from 'learning by doing' (Raffo et al, 2000b) into a process that demands increasing inputs of formal knowledge. These things can be learned, codified and transferred. Whilst creative ideas might spring up from many places (and be linked to local 'atmosphere'), increasingly the ability to exploit these--to turn them into viable cultural commodities--is to be found in only a few key urban clusters and in large global corporations. The mixing of formal, codified knowledge with the local and tacit is underscored by recent research into innovative cities and regions. Simmie (2003; 2004) argues that innovation is not only produced by endogenous capacity. Indeed the most innovative firms are the ones that trade beyond the region. And it is precisely these exogenous clients who provide the main source of and spur to learning for the company. In turn, this learning produces greater trading effects. Thus firms that have global clients are also the ones most engaged in sourcing formal knowledge – from publications, and 4 from universities and research institutions which are themselves mostly non-local. That is, innovative regions tend to be globally trading regions which incorporate formal learning as central to their operations. More recently, this work has further suggested limits to clustering: Contrary to the local clustering hypothesis, market-leading innovative firms seem to be more a part of an internationally distributed system of innovation….The knowledge and information they employ in innovation are concentrated within the firms themselves or gathered from non-spatial sources. (Simmie, 2004: 1111) Simmie (2004:1111) concludes that parts of this international innovation system are concentrated (due to agglomeration effects) in a limited number of city-regions and that 'proponents of clustering dynamics need to be able to explain the relative significance of both concentration and international linkages'. Within cultural industry clusters the mix of formal and tacit, urban agglomeration and internationally distributed factors has hardly been broached by research, and still less by local cultural industry development agencies. But the evidence of increasing concentration of activity in a smaller number of urban centres suggests that a growing emphasis on formal knowledge favours those clusters with already functioning global trade networks and who have access to networks of knowledge and expertise. It also benefits large, global corporation and their subsidiaries. Other economic geographers have argued that an over emphasis on tacit, locally embedded knowledge can ignore the way in which local traditions can have damaging conservative effects. Here incremental learning based on tacit knowledge can fail to respond adequately to rapid global shifts. Traditional local networks can also be exclusionary, locking firms into fixed practices and trading relations, penalising those who do not confirm and thus discouraging innovation. This points to the wider 'learning culture' of the cluster – not just the mix of tacit and formal but how learning itself is structured. Amin and Cohendet (1999) show how local organisational culture plays a key role in innovation. Certain clusters continually assess fundamental goals rather than incrementally responding to external changes. They contrast 'procedural rationality' to 'reflexive rationality. Procedural rationality is suitable for 'a volatile environment', is based on 'cognitive and behavioural adjustments to the external environment by economic agents' and favours the 'incremental adjustment and adaptation to what is perceived to be an environment that cannot be transformed'. By contrast 'reflexive rationality' involves 'strategic and goal monitoring cognition and behaviour on the part of economic agents'. It assumes the environment 'from markets to technologies' can be activity shaped. It is 'inside' this external environment and 'therefore able to shape it'. To separate codified and tacit knowledge is an error: it could be argued that the key to success in complex environments…might lie with those management cultures which encourage a variety and mixture of competencies, in order to secure adaptability of the widest possible sort. (Amin and Cohendet, 1999: 93) 5 Significantly the second half of this article concentrates on how global corporations manage the creative and innovative – and more locally concentrated - dimensions of its activities alongside its routine, codified – and more mobile and distributed aspects. The question of changing knowledge strategies or formations is something we need to look at in more detail. 'Rationalising the Irrational' The relationship between cultural creation and the exploitation of the commodity has been central to debates around the cultural industries since Adorno coined the term (Adorno, 1991). For him the demands of the commodity form determined cultural content. This view has been routinely criticised. Rather than being an 'industry' on the Fordist line, as Adorno had it, the cultural sector instead relies on a scattered, fragmented, fluid network of creative producers. A key plank of the connection between the cultural industries and the local is precisely the small scale, heterogeneous nature of this creative innovation. It is at the local level that the creative work gets done, and it is here that insiders' knowledge and immersion in the local scene produces the vital innovations and mutations. Jonathon Raban, writing in 1974, identified a (then) new urban industrial process which he called a 'pure bedsitter-entrepreneurialism'which 'supplies a demand for commodities whose sole feature is their expressiveness of taste'. He continued: The stylistic entrepreneurs who make their living out of this curious trade go, along with gangsters and dandies, into the bracket of people possessed of a special kind of city knowledge. (Raban, 1974: 102). It was this 'special kind of city knowledge' which would make real cultural innovation impervious to the big dinosaurs of the corporate world. This was also one of the key messages of Lash and Urry's (1994) highly influential Economies of Signs and Space. The cultural industries were post-fordist avant la lettre. Rather than being a marginal activity they were the template that other industries would follow into a new regime of flexible accumulation. The volatility and highly niched nature of the new post-fordist consumer markets meant that a new organisational flexibility was needed. This was nowhere more so than in the most volatile of commodities, those whose function is 'expressiveness of taste'. The cultural industries are a risky business. Often in the face of current trends, they gamble on the future cultural value of a product. These markets are difficult to predict, they demand nibble-footedness, the ability to get in and out very quickly (O'Connor, 2000). This leads to a number of consequences. First, an emphasis on the intuitive, on the emotional investment in the creative field, on an aesthetic reflexivity sustained by a fragmented and scattered cluster of small scale producers thriving on the global signs circulating and mutating in the space of the city. Secondly, the larger companies were content to let this cluster take the initial risks, do the R&D, and move in when the cultural product seemed ready for a wider market. The precise dynamics of this differed between product genre – a film is much more highly capitalised than a tee-shirt, a record, a book, a graphic design etc. – but the general shift has been towards a proliferation of smaller companies and free-lancers at the creative end of the production chain (Hesmondhalgh, 2002). And, as we have tried to show, the 6 rationale for the clustering of these in the city is not just that of agglomeration but of that 'special kind of city knowledge' which will lead to innovation. One of the central problems in this sector has been how to deal with risk (Raffo et al, 2000a). For the smaller companies this involves the balancing of creativity and business rationality, sometimes within one person, sometimes within the company, but most of the time with real tension. This is also the case with the larger companies. Dealing with the volatility of creative clusters, managing the inherent risk of a cultural product within their own financial and corporate strategies – all these have posed real problems for these big corporations. As the literature shows, they are by no means able to set the agenda for the consumption of cultural product as Adorno suggested. Rather the mechanisms for selecting product, for deciding priority of promotion, etc. are extremely complex and volatile. Simon Frith once described this process as trying to 'rationalise the irrational', where, using the music industry as example, both the supply side (musicians) and demand side (consumers) are irrational: 'record companies, which make their money from bringing supply and demand into line, are thus organised around the bureaucratic organisation of chaos' (Frith, 2001: 33) This was part of a wider sense that the demands and conditions of creation presented the cumbersome 'corporates' with a near impossible task: the day of the independent had arrived. Clusters would now thrive at local level and this was central to the condition of innovative cultural production. Indeed, there was a further sense that the inevitable lag between creation and innovation, and the exploitation by the larger corporations meant that a space was opened up for localised, low capitalised cultural goods. In that lag many their money and their mark. This logic has been one of the key premises of city based cultural industry strategies; that space for local clusters has been opened up by this shift to post-fordist, flexible specialisation. This was central to the Greater London Council cultural strategy, though this latter was less naïve and more political in its intent than most subsequent strategies (O'Connor 2004). The employment statistics indeed show the growth in local cultural industry employment, and a proliferation of cultural SMEs and freelancers. They can often make up a fairly significant proportion of local employment, 4% - 9% depending on location and definition (Pratt, 1997; O'Connor, 1999). But, as hinted in the last section, we need to be more critical of this benign narrative. A key component of that narrative is that the intuitive, 'irrational' nature of the skills involved protects these local clusters—indeed they are crucial to the whole production chain. However, it could be equally argued that 'the suits', derided for their lack of intuitive, emotional understanding of cultural creation, have long been operating this way too. The attempt to annex heroic modernity to business practice goes back (in the 20th century at least) to Schumpeter. But the process whereby the specific knowledge skills of the artists - and increasingly the avant-garde artist - are claimed for business practice starts in earnest in the 1970s. Against a wider background of an 'expressive revolution' (Martin, 1981), whereby the marginal values of a cultural avant-garde move to the mainstream, management literature also began to adopt notions of 'risk', 'intuition', 'emotion', 'permanent revolution', 'symbolic knowledge' etc. which had previously been anathema to the rational world of business discourse. The increasing supremacy of 'creativity' as a central value in one's personal and working life, almost a contemporary sign of grace, points in the same direction. Paul Du Gay and others 7 have shown how the emotional, the intuitive, the creative have been incorporated by companies into their operations as part of a new mode of performativity linked to new forms of the exploitation and control of the workforce (Du Gay, 1996; Heelas, 2002) . McRobbie has suggested something similar for free-lancers in the fashion and design sector (McRobbie,1998; 1999) Management gurus such as Kevin Kelly (1999) take the mode of action of the modernist artist-hero to the furthest extremes. Here we see the attempt to deal with a chaotic world by learning to live with chaos, to make it work for you, to systematically challenge all fixed rules and conventions - all of which brings back the benefits of higher rates of economic growth. The privileged mode of knowledge here is as much intuitive and emotional as rational. In many respects it recalls Featherstone's (1991) 'controlled de-control of the emotions', this time not linked to clearly circumscribed hedonism but to the gaining of new knowledge. Don Delillo's Cosmopolis (2003) can help us here. A billionaire drives across Manhattan to his (and his company's) death. His mode of operation is not rational analysis – he has people to do this – but to intuit patterns. These are patterns of biology, of physics and, most significantly, patterns of the international money markets (see also Johnson 2001). Looking at multi-screened presentation of global exchange rates he searches for the pattern, the meaning, the deeper structures. In William Gibson's Pattern Recognition (2003) Cayce Pollard, the heroine is a trend spotter, her job to 'hunt "cool"'. She wanders through the great market places of the world's cities – Roppongi, Shinjuku, Camden Town – to pick up the first emergence of a new trend or fashion. This is done by total physical immersion into not only the city but also into the swirling signifiers. She waits for a pattern to emerge. Once identified she then (and this is the economic moment) 'points a commodifier at it'. These are fictional accounts – but the way in which intuitive and aesthetic reflexivity is being built into the formal structures of the larger organisations is clear to see. In fashion, as many independents complain, the gap between innovation and mainstream is now shrinking to zero. In music the A&R scout structures are such that new bands become big names in (from the point of view of an earlier era) an inkling. Clusters are now linked in a highly efficient manner to the larger global companies whose management of the process of risk, innovation, R&D is increasingly sophisticated. In short, these companies have used reflexive rationality to incorporate tacit cultural knowledge, to manage it, to make it work more efficiently. This does not mean that small companies or localised clusters are giving way to global corporations. Rather it suggests that these companies are increasingly managing the relations between themselves and creative innovation in new ways ways that incorporate intuitive knowledge, tacit local knowledge within overarching schemas of formal knowledge systems. As such the current emphasis on 'creativity' as a key factor in the competitiveness of the local cultural cluster (and, as we shall see, the city write large) is something of a red herring. Successful clusters are increasingly predicated not on 'creativity' but on the access to a range of formal knowledges – about global markets, about the larger companies, about clients, about distribution etc. Clusters and the firms of which they consist can be seen to have emergent working practices which involve both 'procedural' and 'reflexive' rationality. The sources of this knowledge can be both indigenous and exogenous in 8 the sense of coming from contact with clients, with global companies, and with other clusters. Indeed, the literature on innovation points to the need to bring in external knowledge, to mix formal and tacit in ways that are currently little understood within local cultural industries strategies. These strategies and the agencies set up to implement them are increasingly widespread; but there is very rarely the knowledge or the structures to deliver the required mix and the required level of expertise. Despite the emphasis on developing local 'creativity' cultural industries appear to be gravitating towards the larger urban centres, because that is where the skills and the knowledge reside. Here we can point to another aspect of the cluster debate concerned with their internal composition. The classic 'industrial district' where clusters of small firms transform inputs into a unique and competitive output is only one particular model. Markussen (1996), for example, identifies two others. First, there is the 'hub-and-spoke' district where one or two large firms act as a hub for a cluster of other smaller firms. Second, there is the satellite platform district, made up of clusters of branch offices with little local decision making. The details need not concern us here – the key point is the precise make-up of the cluster needs to be known if we are to understand what actually happens within it. The mix of local and global, large and small, command, innovation and routine functions – all have a profound effect on the potential for growth and sustainability and the scope for local initiative and intervention. Such questions – suitably adapted – can be asked of any cultural industry clusters. Turok (2003), for example, shows how the Scottish television and film industries, clustered in Glasgow, simply lack some key components to make them competitive beyond their immediate locality. The most successful businesses in the cluster operate trans-regionally (i.e. they have offices in London) and have no overwhelming need to be located in Glasgow. Hesmondhalgh (1999), tackling the issues of post-fordism and 'independents' in the music industry, argued persuasively that tendencies in the global music business meant that the potential for local music industries outside London – in the sense of a viable industry structure not music making – were not good and getting worse. In short, locally embedded tacit knowledge or 'creativity' may no longer be good enough, even in as sensitive a case as culture, because key components of the industry are missing and are unlikely to be found so easily. For local cultural industry strategies this makes the task much more difficult. It is not simply about promoting 'creativity' or even creative business skills; they have to be about both promoting and strengthening networks and finding ways to link these networks with more national and international circuits of trading and expert knowledge. Some of the larger agencies are beginning to identify this and implement strategies in a much more sophisticated way. The Creative Industries Development Service in Manchester is a good example of this in its move away from business support to network development. But economic development strategies of the level required are hard to come by for many industrial sectors, let alone the cultural. The consequences of the Thatcher government's dismantling of 'corporatism' means than there are very few tools available for systematic and sustained local sectoral development strategies in the UK. This is even more pointed when it comes to the cultural industries, which are still seen as relatively peripheral to the core systems of economic development. However, one clear point of leverage for the promotion of the 9 sector does exist in the urbanistic strategies of the local city. Here, the close connection of cultural industries to the city make for the potential of more symbiotic development – where they act as both input and output in the wider regeneration of the city. This brings us back to the question of the city itself as a factor of innovation and competitiveness. The Creative City The 'creative field' as outlined by Scott and others makes many of the issues raised by the innovative cluster debate much more complex. Along side the embedded physical and institutional infrastructure of the city there are informal, tacit local traditions and practices, and the intensity of city life itself. This presents a formidable challenge to the theorising of just what it is that gives a particular city an advantage. It also presents challenges of equal intractability to policy makers: how are such factors to be identified and mobilised around a cultural industries strategy? This is even trickier when it becomes clear the cultural industries are deeply implicated in a general urbanistic strategy as both input and output where they are sometimes beneficiaries and sometimes contributors to the wider vibrancy of the city. And we must add to this the notion that the local agents of governance involved in such strategic endeavours – let us say those attempting to use 'reflexive rationality' on the city as such – may themselves be enabled or constrained by those framing traditions and structures which underpin the propensities, the resources of potential upon which the local cultural industry sector itself draws. In current terminology – in order to promote the 'creative industries' the city itself (its agencies of governance but drawing on a wider local culture) has to be a 'creative city'. Identifying the springs of this creativity has proved easier to do retrospectively. In Cities and Civilisation (1998) Peter Hall struggles in over 1,000 pages to come up with answers as to why certain cities should emerge as centres of innovation at any particular time. But in a more recent article (2000), Hall tentatively concludes that creative milieux do have certain common features. These cities are chaotic, often structurally unstable, many sided entities. They are cities undergoing social and economic transformation. They are wealthy usually but with an abundance of creative talent drawn from social outsiders, often from migrant currents (another common factor), needing, like the cities themselves, to react against something, 'kick over the traces'. These creative cities were 'societies troubled about themselves'; they were in a state of tension, of 'transition forward to new and unexplored modes of organisation… societies in the throes of a transformation in social relationships, in values and in views about the world'. Hall concludes that creative cities and creative milieux 'are places of great social and intellectual turbulence: not comfortable places at all' (Hall, 2000:646). Hall seems to be suggesting here that great innovative milieux cannot be planned or predicted – unless one had the ability to mould global historical forces on a huge scale. The creativity of a city's golden age is like grace – it comes unbidden and leaves at will. But Hall's reflections on these white hot outbursts are tacked onto a policy discussion pitched at a much more mundane level. Whereas he talks of moments of turbulence, of transition, of the disappearance of certainty, the cultural industry discourse to which he points is concerned to promote a creative milieu on a regularised, predictable and controllable basis. Those factors such as the presence of 10 the socially marginal, migration, turbulence, tension and transgression – these are to be contained within an overarching strategy for the production of cultural commodities (as Florida (2002) makes abundantly clear). Whilst all of these 'golden ages' – love it or hate it as they might - have been caught up in commodity production (see also Jardine, 1996) none of these outbursts were celebrated and promoted because of their economic contribution to the city, or separated from other considerations of taste, and of social and spiritual values. Until now. The coming together of culture and economics, the benign narrative of so much literature on the creative city, might thus appear from this perspective more like Jameson's final annexation of the sphere of culture by capitalism (Jameson, 1992). We shall return to this briefly at the end. But in the first instance Hall's conclusions pose problems for policy intervention. How, then, do you actually produce a creative city? This issue, previously the concern of a few cultural historians, has now become of pressing concern for city governments everywhere. The economic shifts in city economics to which Scott points means that for many cities, if you are not creative you are in trouble (see also Florida, 2002). But how are these assets to be identified and how are they to be mobilised? The adaptation of existing economic development tools is one thing; but in the end a city needs to adopt a reflexive approach to the city as a whole, and which should include its own understanding and techniques of governance. This has been the approach taken by one of the UK's most long standing and respected cultural consultancies, Commedia. The formative period for Commedia was during the debates around the work of the Greater London Council before it was abolished in 1986. I don't propose to discuss this in any detail (Bianchini, 1987; Garnham, 1996; McGuigan, 1996), just to state that their cultural industries strategy involved a cultural politics as well as an economic strategy. It was their desire to promote a local cultural industry sector small scale, 'independent' – in opposition to 'global' and large corporations--that led them to use the language of economic development in the context of non-subsidised cultural production policy. They used concepts such as 'sector' and tools such as 'value-chain analysis' to get a grip on the different stages and factors involved in this complex field of commercial and non-subsidised cultural production. These techniques became more widespread and more sophisticated over the ensuing twenty years. Commedia certainly were at the forefront of developing these as a tool for local policy makers. Beginning with a technique of mapping and auditing the different subsectors in terms of origination, production, distribution and consumption they elaborated a 'toolkit' for dealing with urban clusters as a whole. A five stage model for assessing the strength of a local city involved the whole cultural infrastructure (galleries, theatres, etc. but also art schools and places of socialisation) as well as simply the cultural industries per se – the scale moving from disparate and fragmented beginnings to a fully fledged global city 'synekism' (O'Connor, 1999). The cultural industries in this model were, as Scott argued, fully implicated as input and output in the wider urbanistic structures. The model was given further refinement as a 'cycle of creativity' which included much wider elements of local 'creativity' feeding in as a self-reinforcing factor of cultural industry sector growth. 11 The notion of toolkit of course, pointed to the possibilities of different cities actually pursuing a coherent policy to move up the scale. This is not the place to analyse the particular results of this, suffice to say that one clear barrier to this process – apart from the fact that many other cities were also trying to do this and the established leaders fiercely defended their positions – was the understanding and flexibility of the city government itself. The publication of The Creative City (Landry and Bianchini, 1995) pamphlet and then the book (Landry, 2000) pointed to an increasingly crucial dimension of the process – the need for a 'creative city', one able to apply reflexive rationality to the CI sector, to the surrounding urban context, and to its own process of thinking and policy implementation itself. The systematic application of learning to learning itself would become the hallmark of the successful 21st century city. The question then is, as we indicated above, what resources of the city allow such learning? Is this tacit, embedded, or can it be learned (for example, off Commedia)? The importance of the special, unique resources of cities is underlined by most cultural policy and consultancy literature – cities must find their own way just as their cultural industry sector must find its unique niche in the global market. In this sense cities need to mobilise not just a series of policy tools, but a set of understandings, a vision of the future; and this vision needs to include some account, some narrative of how this future is related to the past, to traditions, to its genius loci. If the two run together, then you get the beginnings of a creative city. We could take here Manchester, UK, as an example of how this might work. As the world's first industrial city it was one of the first to de-industrialise in the 1970s and 80s. In the last twenty years it has been seen to take the lead in a renaissance of the UK's provincial industrial cities. The centre of the city perfectly exemplifies Scott's notion of a symbolic landscape – bars, restaurants, clubs, concert hall, theatres, museums and the UK's earliest and largest city centre accommodation boom (Carter, 2004). And culture is acknowledged as being at the heart of this transformation. An emerging consensus across the city explains this, not simply in terms of particular buildings or initiatives, however important these might be, but in terms of a wider cultural capacity rooted firmly in the city itself. This notion of a wider cultural capacity was given very clear formulation in a book that was, in most others respects, very critical of the transformations at work in the city. In Taylor et al's A Tale of Two Cities (1996) the authors try to explain why Manchester was able to deal with de-industrialisation and the new global challenges in a way Sheffield – a similarly affected industrial city – was not. Taylor et al use Raymond Williams' notion of 'structure of feeling' – 'that the definitive cultural character of any one social formation… could best be grasped in the examination of the routine and taken for granted "social practices" that characterised that social formation' (Taylor et al, 1996: 5). Adapting John Urry's work on local class formations they argue that the 'lost world' of heavy manufacturing, the 'shared social memory' of Manchester and Sheffield still persists in contemporary culture, deeply marking everyday practice and feeling in the cities. However, whereas Sheffield, with its single industry monoculture has failed to deal with the challenges of global transformation, Manchester has the 'shared social memory' to allow it to cope better. The history of 'shock city' and the booms and busts of the 19th and early 20th century mean that Manchester has developed a hardy resilience and an expectation of dynamic change: 'local "Manc" culture [is] relatively attuned to the fast-changing boom and 12 slump of the capitalist business cycle' (Taylor et al, 1996:32). Manchester has long been associated with the promise of a new age of industrial and commercial development. Mancunian culture is based on this historical 'self-confident and even brash form of classless populism, oriented to the pursuit of wealth and personal success through commercial enterprise and cunning' (Taylor et al, 1996: 53): It is this restless flux of the utopias of organised labour and the utopian dreams of urban fortunes, won through free trade and enterprise, that defines the parameters of local mancunian "structure of feeling" – a culture that sees itself as connected up to a larger world and a larger set of possibilities, rather than simply an industrial city caught within a narrow labour metaphysic. (Taylor et al, 1996: 59) In a series of articles and most recently a book, City Of Revolution (2002), Jamie Peck and others have attempted to detail this myth of the entrepreneurial city with which Manchester bedecks itself. Their critique that this 'entrepreneurialism' only pertains to competition for government money and lacks real long term impact has some bite. They also strongly relate this entrepreneurial discourse to that of neo-liberalism, seeing it as a convenient fig-leaf for its abandonment of its radical policies of the early 1980s before Thatcher's third election victory. What Taylor picks up on but they ignore is that this narrative mobilised by the city is not simply political rhetoric – it does resonate with a wider culture in the city. The dominant image of the Mancunian of the 1990s, of the street-wise "scally" (scallywag) doing business across the world or profiting from local initiatives in the entertainment business (the pop groups of the 1980s "Madchester" or the Olympic bid in 1992), we would argue is no overnight invention. (Taylor et al, 1996: 53-4) Taylor's account manages to flesh out the claims for the mobilisation of local culture as an indigenous factor in the regeneration and emergence of a 'creative city'. Whatever theoretical legs 'structure of feeling' might have - and this is open to some questioning (Hill and O'Connor, 1996) - there is little doubt that the agents and networks of governance in Manchester, faced with painful economic recession, were able to draw on a larger set of ambitions than those available in Sheffield and present them as long-standing traditions providing a resource for facing the future. They were able to mobilise a strong narrative of energetic entrepreneurialism that managed to resonate with wider processes of social and economic change. Both Taylor and Peck et al point to the 'masculine' nature of this narrative – Manchester Men' (Tickell and Peck, 1996) - but what neither properly explore is how this narrative was organised around the notion of 'culture'. Culture was out of place in the industrial city – despite a long tradition of cultural innovation this had little efficacy by the 1970s - yet it emerges centre stage in the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a keystone in the powerful orthodox narrative which the city manages to get across in print and broadcast media – that Manchester is the second cultural city in England, that its cultural vibrancy, its creativity and 'attitude' are firmly rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and energy stretching back to its 19th century heyday (Observer, 2004; Guardian, 2004) Here the 'revitalisation of the symbolic content' of the urban landscape, as Scott has it, works symbiotically with the transmutation of the landscape of its urban imaginary. 13 A number of points can be made in respect of this example. The process whereby Manchester learned the language and techniques of culture-led regeneration involved some fairly standard and derivative knowledge sources. The flagship urban regeneration packages of the late 1980s and early 1990s were most imported from North America by the Central Manchester Development Corporation (CMDC), a central government appointed quango set up precisely to circumvent the debilitating influence of local (Labour) government culture and practice (O'Connor and Wynne, 1996; Peck and Ward, 2002). The Olympic bid, seen as the crucial initiative in creating a new public-private elite consensus in the city, came from the example of Barcelona (as did some bad public art initiatives), and was driven by a fairly standard 'growth coalition' of politicians and property interests. The notion of 'culture' at this stage was restricted to the standard flag-ship projects which mark most post-industrial cities in Europe, and by no means distinguish Manchester from these. What gave the Manchester regeneration narrative more resonance was in effect a 'windfall gain' from the explosion of popular culture in the city, which occupied (with one or two exceptions) a completely different symbolic, physical and economic space in the city from that which concerned the city government (O'Connor and Wynne, 1996; 1998; Savage, 1992; Bracewell, 1998; 2002; Haslam, 1999). Very much fulfilling Hall's notion of a city troubled by transition to something new, the Manchester music and fashion scenes, along with the less well known visual and performing arts, represented the sort of unpredictable and effervescent upsurge of creative innovation that marked many a city's golden age. It was a re-invention of place and identity which gave content to the rather empty narratives of regeneration coming from the agencies of governance. What did mark out Manchester in the later 1990s was the way in which these latter were able to adapt their narrative to this cultural upsurge, and to some extent – especially after the IRA bomb in the city centre in 1996 – open their networks up to those associated with these cultural scenes. In this way, a fairly standard culture-led regeneration – concert hall, museum, art gallery, conference centre etc. – could be linked to local popular culture and wider narratives of renewal and change. The 'scally' and the 'businessman' could now be unified under the banner of culture (see also Blum, 2003). Though problematic from time to time, this popular culture provided the symbolic charge which transformed the landscape of the city from one of production to one of consumption and leisure. Despite the critique of Peck et al there is no doubt that, whilst certainly excluding those who cannot pay, this landscape is not perceived as that of some new middle class but has a real popular legitimacy; it is inhabited culturally by Mancunians. This case can illustrate the extent to which a city can really learn to be 'creative' or whether, as with Hall, it just happens. To what extent is the genius loci capable of being accessed and managed by 'reflexive rationality'. At the complex level of the city I would suggest that all such discourses of local cultural qualities come with baggage, and how they turn out in practice is very much a matter of chance. Creative cities are, in this sense, singularities. On the other hand, a close fit between a local 'structure of feeling' and the regeneration narrative of the city does not necessarily mean that the new urban symbolic landscape will work to the benefit of local cultural production. The forces shaping the new landscape may use cultural capital but not in a way that helps local cultural production needs (or for that matter, innovative cultures of consumption). In 14 many respects the transformation of the urban symbolic landscape under the sign of a vibrant local popular culture was simply one moment of transition, used to create cultural capital in the city centre which was to be ultimately recouped by larger capital investment – primarily those of residential development and national and international chain brands. The explosion of 'loft living' in the central area – from around 1,000 people in 1994 to 20,000 in 2004 – recalls Zukin's mordant critique of the dynamics of this symbolic landscape (Zukin, 1982; 1991; 1995). Scott refers to her notion of 'landscape' in his summary of cultural production effects, but drops all of the critical baggage which this concept brings with it. The Northern Quarter area of Manchester an area intermittently designated a 'creative quarter' by the local authority and which has, for the local population, occupied a position of 'alternative', 'cutting edge', even 'urban authentic', since the early 1980s - is now undergoing a classic process whereby cultural producers and small scale, innovative consumption clusters are driven out by capital investment thriving on the symbolic value created by these users. The city's answer to complaints has been that if they can not afford it they should not be occupying such (now) prime spaces. The notion that 'intellectual assets' could play as important a role in the city's future (now re-launching itself as 'The Knowledge Capital') as property assets has made no inroads into the thinking of the local growth coalition. The benign narrative of culture and economics in the urban core is thus not necessarily as neat as is made out. Mommaas (2004), using case studies from The Netherlands, has pointed to a range of separate policy objectives grouped under the banner of 'cultural cluster'. in a situation in which the exchange between cultural and other (social, economic) values has become more complex and unstable, the search for new forms of urban cultural governance can easily be frustrated by a combination of unclear goals, a lack of mutual understanding and involvement, over generalised models and inhibitory attitudes. In order to prevent this from happening, there is a need to develop a more reflexive involvement with cultural clustering developments, more clearly differentiating between possible objectives and programmes. (Mommaas, 2004: 531) This call for a more reflexive attitudes and clearly defined objectives is something that is yet to take place in the scramble to become the 'creative city'. I would argue that such reflexivity needs to be very clear about the problems, as well as the potential, of the insertion of the city into globalised systems of 'commodified cultural production'. Scott's claim for the potential of multiple and diverse centres of global cultural production is attractive and certainly has some validity. But it also has its limits. And these limits need to be addressed by 'reflexive involvement' – not only clarifying in more detail the precise objectives, intended outcomes and specific tools required to support local cultural production, but also in assessing the overall urban cultural policy in which this cultural production strategy takes place. Scott's benign narrative ignores strong countervailing tendencies of displacement and substitution of local cultural goods for global; and whilst this does generate local production effects it does these in certain ways and on certain conditions which need to be clearly understood. The simple opposition of global and local culture, with the former the inexorable winner, is not sustained by the evidence (Hesmondhalgh, 2002); but 'let a 15 thousand flowers bloom' also misrepresents the process of profound cultural change currently underway. These reflections then, are not just about the need to look more closely at cultural industry strategies but also to make us reflect on how far we should annex the culture of cities, their creativity and urbanity to that of innovation and competitiveness in globalised 'commodified cultural production' – throwing in cultural infrastructure, historical traditions and the local 'structure of feeling' for good measure. Aside from the issue of how these can usefully be identified and mobilised there is the question whether we want to do this. As I remarked in relation to Hall's account – no other cultural milieux has been mobilised in such a way. Rather than representing a 'reconciliation' of culture and economics this might be read as the former's final annexation. This should not be seen as a return to the opposition of pure culture and commercialisation—after all cities have always been markets and culture has always been firmly rooted within these. But the ecology of these markets is changing, in ways we have yet to fully understand but which are misrepresented by the benign narrative of urban culture as a new source of economic competitiveness. We do need a cultural politics of 'commodified cultural production' which looks to the life and culture of cities as a thing of value for itself – ultimately – not simply to become factors of production. In this way we can open up a space of critique that allows us to talk about cultural value and cultural commodities – how they circulate within and between cities, how they are produced and consumed, and precisely whose culture is allowed to burgeon in the dense undergrowth of the urban ecology. Reducing, not just contemporary urban culture, but that of past ages to input factors for an emerging global cultural economy presents us with task not unlike that Benjamin outlined in his last writing: To articulate the past historically… means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger. ….. The danger affects the content of the tradition and its receivers. The same threat hangs over both: that of becoming a tool of the ruling classes. In every era the attempt must be made to wrest tradition away from the conformism that is about to overpower it' (Benjamin, 1970:257) Bibliography Adorno, T. W., 1991, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture, Routledge, London. Amin, A. and Cohendet, P, 1999, 'Learning and Adaptation in Decentralised Business Networks', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 17, pp.87-104. Bell, D. and Jayne, M., (eds), 2004, City of Quarters: Urban Villages in the Contemporary City, Ashgate, Aldershot. Benjamin, W., 1973, 'Twelve Theses on the Philosophy of History', Illuminations, Fontana, London. Bianchini, F., 1987, 'GLC R.I.P. 19811-1986', New Formations, No. 1 Blum, A., 2003, The Imaginative Structure of the City, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal. Bracewell, M., 1998, England is Mine: Pop Life in Albion from Wilde to Goldie, Flamingo, London. Bracewell, M., 2002, The Nineties: When Surface was Depth, Flamingo, London. 16 Carter, H., 2004, 'Homing in on the heart of Manchester, new city dwellers clamour for more', The Guardian, 10th May. Crewe, L. and Beaverstock, J., 1998, 'Fashioning the City: Cultures of Consumption in Contemporary Urban Spaces', Geoforum, Vol.29(3), pp.287-308 Delillo, D., 2003, Cosmopolis, Scribner, New York. Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2001) Creative Industries Mapping Document. London: DCMS Du Gay, P., 1996, 'Organizing Identity: Entrepreneurial Governance and Public Management' in (eds) S. Hall and P. Du Gay, Questions of Cultural Identity, Sage, London. Featherstone, M., 1991, Consumer Culture and Postmodernism, Sage, London. Frith, S., 2001, 'The Popular Music Industry' in eds.) S. Frith, W. Straw, J. Street, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, pp. 26-52 Florida, R., 2002, The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, New York. Guardian Newspaper, Special Supplement, 'My Manchester', 10th May, 2004. Garnham, N., 1990, 'Public Policy and the Cultural Industries' in N. Garnham, Capitalism and Communication: Global Culture and the Economics of Information, Sage, London. Garnham, N., 2005, 'From Cultural Industries to Creative Industries', International Journal of Cultural Policy, forthcoming. Gibson, W., 2003, Pattern Recognition, Putnam, New York Hall, P., 1998, Cities and Civilisation: Culture, Technology and Urban Order, Weidenfield and Nicolson, London. Hall, P., 2000, 'Creative Cities and Economic Development', Urban Studies, Vol.37, No.4, pp.639-649. Haslam, D., 1999, Manchester, England: the Story of the Pop Cult City, Fourth Estate, London. Heelas, P., 'Work Ethics, Soft Capitalism and the "Turn to Life"' in (eds) P. Du Gay and M. Pryke, Cultural Economy, Sage, London Hesmondhalgh, D., 1999, 'Indie: the Aesthetics and Institutional Politics of a Popular Music Genre', Cultural Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 34–61. Hesmondhalgh, D., 2002, The Cultural Industries, Sage, London. Hill, D. and O'Connor, J., 1996, 'Cottonopolis and Culture: Contemporary Cultural and Structural Change in Manchester', City, Vol. 5-6, pp.109-118. Jameson, F., 1992, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Verso, London. Jardine, L., 1996, Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance, Macmillan, London. Kelly, K., 1998, New Rules for the New Economy, Fourth Estate, London. Lash, S. and Urry J., 1994, Economies of Signs and Space, Sage, London. Landry C., 2000, The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators, Earthscan, London. Landry, C. and Bianchini, F., 1995, The Creative City, Demos, London Leadbeater, C and Oakley, K., 1999, The Independents: Britain's New Cultural Entrepreneurs. Demos, London. Markusen, A., 1996, 'Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts, Economic Geography, Vo. 72, No.3, pp.293-313. Martin, B. ,1981, A Sociology of Contemporary Cultural Change, Blackwell, Oxford. McGuigan, J., 1996, Culture and the Public Sphere, Routledge, London. 17 McRobbie, A., 1998, British Fashion Design: Rag Trade or Image Industry?, Routledge, London. McRobbie, A., 1999, In the Culture Society: Art, Fashion and Popular Music, Routledge, London. Mommaas, H., 2004, 'Cultural Clusters and the Post-industrial City: Towards the ReMapping of Urban Cultural Policy, Urban Studies, Vol.41, No. 3, pp.507-532. Observer Newspaper, Special Supplement, '21st Century Manchester', 23rd May, 2004. O'Connor, J (1999) Cultural Production in Manchester: Mapping and Strategy, Manchester Institute for Popular Culture, Manchester Metropolitan University. Online. Available HTTP
O'Connor, J., 2000, 'Cultural Industries', The European Journal of Arts Education, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 15-27. O'Connor, J (2002) Public and Private in the Cultural Industries in (eds)Johansson, T and Sernhede, O (Eds.), Lifestyle, Desire and Politics: Contemporary Identities, Gothenburg, Sweden: Daidalos, pp.15-33 O'Connor, J., 2004, 'Cities, Culture and "Transitional Economies": Developing Cultural Industries in St. Petersburg', in (eds) D. Power and A. Scott, Cultural Industries and the Production of Culture, Routledge, London O'Connor, J. and Wynne, D., 1996, 'Left Loafing: Cultural Consumption and Production in the Postmodern City' in (eds) J. O'Connor and D. Wynne, D From the Margins to the Centre: Cultural Production and Consumption in the Post-Industrial City, Ashgate, Aldershot pp.49-90. O'Connor, J. and Wynne, D., 1998, 'Consumption and the Postmodern City', Urban Studies, Vol. 35, Nos. 5-6, pp. 841 – 64. Peck, J. and Ward, K., 2002, City of Revolution. Restructuring Manchester, Manchester University Press, Manchester. Porter, M. E.,1998a, On Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press Porter, M.E., 1998b, Clusters and the New economics of Competitiveness, Harvard Business Review, December, pp-77-90 Porter, M.E., 2000, Location, Competition and Economic Development: local clusters in a global economy, Economic Development Quarterly, 14, pp.15-34 Pratt, A., 1997, The Cultural Industries Sector: its definition and character from secondary sources on employment and trade, Britain 1984-91. Research Papers on Environmental and Spatial Analysis, No.41, London School of Economics. Pratt, A., 2000, New Media, the New Economy and New Spaces. Geoforum, Vol. 31 (4), pp.425-436 Pratt, A., 2002, Hot Jobs in Cool Places. The Material Cultures of New Media Product Spaces: the Case of South of the Market, San Francisco. Information, Communication and Society, Vol. 5(1), pp.27-50 Raban, J., 1974, Soft City, Hamish Hamilton, London. Raffo, C., O'Connor, J., Lovatt, A. and Banks, M., 2000a, 'Risk and Trust in the Cultural Industries', Geoforum, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp.453-464 Raffo, C., O'Connor, J., Lovatt, A. and Banks, M., 2000b, 'Attitudes to Formal Business Training and Learning amongst Entrepreneurs in the Cultural Industries: situated business learning through "doing with others"'. British Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 215-230 Savage, J., 1992, Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock and Beyond, St. Martin's Press, London. 18 Scott, A., 2000, The Cultural Economy of Cities, London: Sage. Simmie, J., 2003, 'Innovation and Urban Regions as National and International Nodes for the Transfer and Sharing of Knowledge'. Regional Studies, Vol. 37, 6&7, pp.607620. Simmie, J., 2004, 'Innovation and Clustering in the Globalised International Economy', Urban Studies, Vol. 41, Nos. 5/6, pp.1095-1112 Soja, E., 2000, Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions, Blackwell, Oxford Storper, M., 1997, The Regional World: New York: Guildford Press Taylor, I., Evans, K. and Fraser, P., 1996, A Tale of Two Cities: Global change, Local Feeling and Everyday Life in the North of England. A study in Manchester and Sheffield, Routledge, London. Tickell, A. and Peck, J., 1996, 'The Return of the Manchester Men: men's words and men's deeds in the remaking of a local state', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 21, 595-616 Turok, I., 2003, 'Cities, Clusters and Creative Industries: the Case of Film and Television in Scotland', European Urban Studies, Vol.11, No.5, pp. 549-565. Zukin, S., 1982, Loft-living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change, The John Hopkins Press LTD., London. Zukin, S., 1991, Landscapes of Power: from Detroit to Disney World, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. Zukin, S., 1995, The Cultures of Cities, Blackwell, Oxford. 1 Throughout this article I use the term 'cultural industries'. I am aware that the term 'creative industries' is now widely used in the UK, in Australia and North America. I do not wish to get involved in the terminological debate, though I do have ground for preferring 'cultural' over 'creative' (O'Connor, 2004; Garnham, 2004)); suffice it to say that my comments generally refer to both creative and cultural industries. 19
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Monroe Grand Gala 100% Boar Bristle Brush -- Finish and Styling for fine to medium processed hair. 100% Natural Bristles to Clost the Cuticle and add shine. Oval shaped Barrel for shaping or straightening finish. Hourglass Shape Barrel for even control of the roots. Perfect Tension in all bristling area. Beautiful finish of the ends. Extra Light Weight.

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We've all got a horror story about the time our mom gave us a box filled with tampons and a training bra in front of our entire family that one Christmas, or the time our new boyfriend gave us a membership to an S&M club, or, worse still, diet pills. In honor of the worst gifts we, the Outblush staff, have ever received, we present a special holiday edition of Doubtblush: Wreck the Halls, where we'll tell you the stories of the most awful gifts we've gotten, and find a modern counterpart to it.... You know, just in case you've got a White Elephant party coming up.
Once upon a time, Layla was a kid. She had one of those aunties who wasn't really an aunt, but a slightly over-bearing family friend who insisted on coming around during the holidays. She would bring a tin of Date Pinwheel Cookies and a few gifts for Layla and her brother. Unfortunately, Layla's gift was always a frilly, slightly mispainted porcelain doll.These days, porcelain dolls haven't done much evolving. Case in point: this 16 inch Victorian Porcelain Doll ($30).
Things that will always be true about porcelain dolls: they will always stand crookedly on their stands, they will always wear ridiculously elaborate outfits in ugly colors, they will always be for looking at and not playing with, and they will always be a disappointing gift to a young girl. Be a good gift giver and give your girl recipient something that won't scare the bejeebus out of her at night (those things STARE. Seriously...). Bonus if it's actually a gift she can play with!
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By Cortney Ofstad
August 27, 2013 | Vol. 94, No. 201
Cortney Ofstad/Daily Globe
KELLY KLEIN, of Oma, speaks to the Iron County Comprehensive Planning/Land and Zoning Committee during a public hearing on possible alterations to the zoning ordinance in relation to ferrous and nonferrous mining in the county, Monday.
HURLEY — The Iron County Comprehensive Planning/Land and Zoning Committee approved a motion to changes and additions of sections to the zoning ordinance, in relation to both ferrous and nonferrous mining after a public hearing, Monday, in Hurley.
The motion was to approve the language and have it sent to the Iron County Board of Supervisors for final approval during tonight's board meeting.
Changes were made to sections 9.4.4 through 9.4.11 in relation to ferrous and nonferrous mineral exploration with uses "authorized by conditional permits" in the rural residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, forestry and non-shore-land resource conservation districts.
Under these changes, "no more than five exploratory borings may be drilled per acre per year, no more than 10 per acre every five years, in which case further exploration shall be a conditional use."
The major focal point of the meeting was on adding sections on both ferrous and nonferrous mining in Iron County.
According to the ordinance, in order to do bulk sampling in ferrous mining and prospecting nonferrous minerals, a conditional use permit must be approved by the county.
Both processes required an application form from the county and a fee of $10,000. With bulk sampling, a bulk sample plan must be submitted with the application, and with prospecting, a prospecting permit application must be submitted.
Both the plan and permit must be "deemed complete" by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and according to the ordinance, the county will consider a variety of factors in the approval process including dust, fumes, noise limits, hours of operation, financial assurance for reclamation and truck routes and weight limits.
The nonferrous mining section does not pertain to the proposed iron ore mine through Gogebic Taconite, according to Iron County Zoning administrator Tom Bergman. The section was added for future prospects.
Engineer Tim Myers, of G-Tac, spoke to the committee about what bulk sampling is. He said bulk sampling will entail gathering rock samples, putting it in trucks and having it shipped to either one of two labs in Minnesota for extensive testing.
The purpose of bulk sampling is to design the mill equipment on site, and samples will be gathered from previous bulk sampling done at the site over 50 years ago.
"We're not re-blasting, we're just picking it up," Myers said.
Samples will be collected from three sites in Iron County, with a fourth possible site being used in Ashland County. Forty tons will be collected out of each site.
"We're working through the DNR process right now, so we know this isn't going to happen over night," Myers said.
Many residents who spoke during the public hearing focused on the $10,000 fee. Leslie Kolesar, chair of the Iron County Mining Impact Committee, spoke about the fee being too high, and said that $5,000 or less would be "more reasonable."
However, Terry Daulton, of Mercer, said the fee seemed "too low" and while working as a consultant on similar projects, she saw fees of $15,000-20,000.
"This is a billion-dollar project, so $15,000 to $20,000 isn't too much," Daulton said.
Jeff Wilson, also of Mercer, said the fee is to "protect citizens from mistakes the mining company may make."
"Ten thousand dollars is nothing," Wilson said. "If a mistake were made, you would be working with the attorney at $300 an hour. In a week, you've already went over $10,000. We need a strong law and fee to protect us."
Hurley resident Maureen Matusewic spoke about the language in the ordinance to avoid future trouble, and asked the committee to "please be specific."
She called the language "vague," and wanted to "tighten the language so we know what exactly you are looking for."
Kolesar and Kelly Klein, of Oma, both spoke about the "over regulation" in the ordinance.
"Don't over regulate," Klein said. "Why is Iron County regulating where the DNR is already regulating?"
Kolesar "urged" the committee to not have the county become a regulating authority on mining through the ordinance, and to "leave it to the DNR."
Eileen Potter, of Montreal, questioned mineral rights on private property, and said the ordinance isn't clear on how it should be handled. Potter said the ordinance made it seem that if any private property owner didn't own the mineral rights to their property, it could be open to bulk sampling.
"It makes it seem as if the entire county is open to bulk sampling," Potter said.
Committee member Gerald Luke also questioned what rights property owners have if they don't own the mineral rights to their land.
Tom Bergman said the property rights would have to be clarified, and that he would look into the matter.
The committee approved the language for the ordinances, pending clarification on the private property mineral rights, and to have the language sent to the full county board for approval.
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Nov. 8, 2013
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The votes are in, Alex Elias (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) has become the fourth ever women's soccer player at NIU to be named to the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman Team. Elias is the first Huskie to be a part of this team since Lauren Ebert received the honor in 2009.
"Elias came into this season prepared to play," said Head Coach John Ross. "She made the most out of her opportunities, and she has a bright future here at NIU."
Elias started the season in the second unit for the Huskies, bringing energy to the team later in the game. After the first four games though, she forced her way into the starting lineup. Elias started 15 of the last 16 games that NIU played, appearing in all 20 games overall.
"We put her into the starting lineup when she got more comfortable," said Ross. "Once she got acclimated to the college lifestyle, she was able to handle a starting role."
The Phoenix, Ariz. native scored her first collegiate goal to tie up NIU's game against Lewis, a match that the Huskies went on to win 2-1.
Elias was the only Huskie selected as part of any of the all-conference teams in the MAC this year. She helped the Huskies post a 6-11-3 overall record in 2013. The team was very tough to beat at home, producing a 6-1-1 record in front of the DeKalb crowd. The Huskies made the postseason for consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2007 and 2008 seasons.


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Steven Ray Bryan
Position: DE-NT-LB
Height: 6-2 Weight: 256 lbs.
Born: May 6, 1964 in Wagoner, OK
High School: Coweta
College: Oklahoma (school history)
Drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 5th round (120th overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 3 (10660th overall since 1950)
Relatives: Brother of Rick Bryan
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1987 Game Log: Regular Season · Playoffs · vs.


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Fans shouldn't be surprised when opinions of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 vary widely from fantastic to meh when it opens Friday (May 2).
It can be messy. It features three villains from the Spidey Marvel Universe – more if you count the corporate weasels in suits. Those villains: Electro (Jamie Foxx), the Green Goblin/Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) and the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) generally make for a rollicking good time at this particularly movie.
Director Marc Webb gives just enough of each without completely torpedoing the plot and turning it into one of Joel Schumacher's stabs at bringing Batman to the screen.
It can be noisy and overwhelming in that regard, reminiscent of hitting a Metallica concert, but for those who are game, it's worth seeing in the theater.
Webb, as he did with the first film in his Spidey series, balances the film's dubious elements with its best. In this case, it's those overwhelming aspects, which in some respects possess a huge "wow" factor, with the movie's emotional elements, which elicit several raw moments.
Webb and writers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci (that duo brought us the Star Trek reimagining) and Jeff Pinker know Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield). They know his interactions with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and his Aunt May (Sally Field).
Parker's suffering from deep, relentless guilt over ignoring Gwen's dead father's request that he stay away from his daughter after the events of TASM. He longs to find out what possessed his parents, who are assumed dead, to leave him with his aunt and uncle as a young boy.
And he's at conflict with himself over the role he should assume as Spider-Man in New York City. Those elements work well in TASM2 courtesy of splendid work from Garfield. But this is a superhero movie, correct?
Those moments don't work quite as well, despite the best efforts for the actors playing the baddies. Foxx has the most fun as Electro. DeHaan, whose character suffers from as much angst as Garfield's Parker, primarily because he's dealing with the prospect of a premature death and Giamatti's screen time is limited.
He's about as limited as the story that Webb and the scriptwriters try to tell. It's not difficult to see them working, but there's not much surety in where they are going with TASM2. In short: they're not giving up secrets very easily. Fans can only hope that all is revealed in the third film in the series.
Webb was a novice at big budget, effects flicks when selected to direct the first Spidey movie. That's no longer the case and it shows on the screen with some jaw-dropping special effects. He just needed a little more plot to go with them.
Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti
Studio: Columbia
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence.
Running time: 142 minutes
George's rating: 3.5-of-5 stars
Check for theaters and showtimes at Atlas Cinemas, Cleveland Cinemas, Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com


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Nothing says summer like the scent of fresh-cut grass, ashed-over charcoal and spice-rubbed meat gently smoking on the grill. With a little preparation, you can experience these heady fragrances simultaneously with the bacon sausage fatty.
There's little not to love with this rolled-up slice of heaven, an infinitely changeable combination of bacon, sausage, cheese, onion, jalapeno peppers, etc. I've even seen pictures of these smoked treats with hard-boiled eggs stuffed inside, although that's where I draw the line taste-wise. Regardless of what you decide to stuff your fatty with, the simple pork sausage construction prevents it from getting desicated on the grill, unless you forget and leave it on for five or six hours.
A full-sized fatty can be made with one pound of sausage and a gallon-sized freezer bag. If you want to make them smaller (to use a variety of stuffings), split that one pound chub of sausage into two pieces and flatten them in quart-sized bags. The smaller fatty lends itself to wrapping with bacon, rather than using the weave, but my slideshow here will demonstrate both methods. Both methods taste amazing, so it really comes down to personal preference.
Smoked Bacon Sausage Fatty
(The pictures here show two full-size fatties stuffed with burnt onions, cheese and some chopped pork burnt ends I needed to use. Remember that the possibilities here are endless - use your imagination!
What you need to get started
1 lb of ground sausage
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar cheese or cheese curds)
Other fillings (cooked bacon, jalapeno peppers, onion, hard-boiled eggs, etc).
Sliced bacon (for wrapping/weaving)
Your favorite barbeque rub and/or sauce
Vinegar (I use cider or leftover pickle juice)
Please follow the steps in the attached list to complete your fatty. Remember to read everything twice before proceeding - this will ensure against surprises when you get to the final steps. Tight lines!
Bacon sausage fatty #1
Place your pound of sausage in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Alternatively, cut the sausage chub in half and place each half in separate quart-sized freezer bags. The pictures shown here are of a full-pound fatty.
Bacon sausage fatty #2
After sealing the bag most of the way (leave a small opening to allow air to escape) flatten the sausage with your hands or a rolling pin. Try to get a uniform thickness as you work into the corners and edges.
Bacon sausage fatty #3
Get your fillings ready to place in the middle of the flattened sausage. Cheese, peppers, cooked bacon, onion, anchovies, olives - anything goes here. Keep in mind that you will be smoking this around 225F, so your fillings should be cooked ahead of time. Pictured here are some pork burnt ends from last week, chopped and ready to go. I also sprinkled some of my favorite BBQ rub on the sausage before adding the filling.
Bacon sausage fatty #4
Use scissors to cut open both sides of the freezer bag and peel it back, leaving the sausage open. Place your fillings in the middle of the square area, spread out so you can roll the sausage around them to form a (mostly) even roll. Don't remove the sausage from the plastic yet.
Bacon sausage fatty #5
With the filling in place, carefully roll the sausage over the filling so that it's totally enclosed. If the sausage has warmed up at all, it's probably sticky and you can use the plastic bag to assist in rolling it. Make sure the ends are pinched shut to contain melted cheese and other goodness during the smoking process.
Bacon sausage fatty #6
Lay several pieces of bacon on your pan or cutting board. Overlap each strip with the next so that the fatty will be totally covered when it's wrapped in the bacon. Lay the roll across the layered bacon, and begin wrapping it one strip at a time. Be sure to handle the roll carefully as it can rip or split open.
Bacon sausage fatty #7
If you want your fatty to look more "manicured," go for the bacon weave. With average-sized bacon strips, lay three length-wise and follow up with three laid top-to-bottom, interweaving them as you go. Be sure to approximate this to the length of your fatty, so no large areas of sausage are left exposed. When the weave is complete, lay the fatty on the woven bacon and wrap it so that the bacon ends are overlapped.
Bacon sausage fatty #8
When your fatty (or fatties) are wrapped and ready, apply a generous sprinkling of your favorite BBQ rub to the outside. Keep them on a tray or rack that makes handling easy - stainless smoker grids or Bradley racks are great for this. Fatties pictured on a non-stick baking sheet.
Bacon sausage fatty #9
With your smoker set up for indirect smoking, start a pile of charcoal. Let it heat up and ash over before putting your wood on it. I usually start my first batch in the smoker so it's good and warmed up when the meat is ready for smoking. Plan on keeping your smoker temp around 225F for a cook time of 2 hours with constant smoke.
Bacon sausage fatty #10
Put your fatty at the far end of the smoker, so the indirect heat does the work, along with a constant stream of rich smoke. All of my smokes this year have been fueled with apple wood (a neighbors' old tree split in a storm last year and half of it ended up in my yard). After being cut up into foot-long lengths and split with a maul, each chunk pumps out plenty of smoke.
Bacon sausage fatty #11
Start checking the internal temperature of the fatty after an hour or so on the grill. Since the fatty is pork, you want a minimum internal temp of 160F. You will notice that the bacon wrap takes on a crispy, dark look as the fatty nears the finish line. The bacon should be firm to the bite - this is a good reason to use regular or thin-cut bacon (too thick and it doesn't crisp up and is more like chewing gum). In the last twenty minutes of smoking, mix up a small cup of your favorite sauce and some vinegar and baste the fatty once or twice for a little added zip.
Bacon sausage fatty #12
When the fatty hits 160F, pull it out of the smoker, cover with foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. This rest period lets the internal juices to redistribute, so that they won't drain out when you cut into the fatty. After the rest period, use a sharp knife to cut the fatty into slices. Let the cheese ooze out and enjoy these slices of heaven one at a time... Tight lines!


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A handful of myths have become common defenses of the W3C's plan for "Encrypted Media Extensions" (EME), a Digital Restrictions
We are excited to announce the Free Culture Foundation — the new organization taking the place of Students for Free
This has been cross-posted at the Free Software Foundation blog here.
The Empowermentors Collective is a new space by and
Rarely does the name of one person, lacking political office or seat of power, echo across the internet so thoroughly
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, a holiday celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.
The Free
This is a personal opinion by former Students for Free Culture board member, Kevin Driscoll.
Two days ago, Aaron
With our fourth conference just a week away, we are happy to announce another major milestone in the growth


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How many times do parents tell their kids to wash their hands? Hand washing is the best way to keep those germs away. According to the Cleveland Clinic guidelines washing for 20 seconds is a good start. The American Public Health Association is giving away free hand-washing timers to help kids and adults prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
According to the APHA website:
How does washing my hands help lower my risk of getting sick?
Some viruses can live up to two hours or longer on surfaces like tables, desks and doorknobs. By frequently washing your hands, you get rid of germs that you have picked up from other people, surfaces or animals.
What's the right way to wash my hands?
• Wet your hands and apply liquid or bar soap. If using a bar of soap, be sure to place it on a rack and allow it to drain after use.
• Rub your hands vigorously together and scrub all surfaces of hands and wrists.
• Continue for 20 seconds, or about the time it takes to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice.
• Rinse well and dry your hands.
Hand sanitizers work great when regular soap is not available.The key to good health starts with taking the time to wash your hands well. So go ahead and set that timer and listen to the music for good hand-washing!
Free Hand-Washing Timer from the American Public Health Assoc.
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Top Cooking Tips and Tricks you didn't know.
Easy Slow Cooker Pork Chops


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Helped Team USA end its impressive run through the 2008 Games with a silver medal, matching its best finish in Olympic history...American women lost to Brazil, 25-18, 18-25, 25-13, 25-21 in the gold medal match...started all four sets and led the team with 16 points on 15 kills and an ace...(posted: Aug. 23)
Helped Team USA stun another opponent to advance to the gold medal match, defeating No. 3 Cuba in three sets, 25-20, 25-16, 25-17...guaranteed Team USA at least its best finish since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles with its first gold medal match in 24 years...started all three sets at outside hitter, and was second on the team with 11 points...the former Stanford All-American tallied seven kills, three blocks and an ace in the match...(posted: Aug. 20)
Led Team USA in a thrilling five-set upset of Italy, ousting the No. 2 squad in the world from the competition...rallied to come from behind and claim the 3-2 (20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 15-6) victory...started all five sets at outside hitter and paced the team's offense with 19 points on 14 kills, three blocks and two aces...(posted: Aug. 19)
The leading scorer for the U.S. in a thrilling five-set (18-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13) victory over Poland...carried the team to a second place finish in Group A and a spot in the quarterfinals...tallied 25 points on 18 kills, six blocks and an ace...(posted: Aug. 16)
Helped the U.S. come out on top in a thrilling five-game (23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11) match with China, assuring the team a spot in the quarterfinals...started all five sets and turned in 18 points on 14 kills, two blocks and two aces...(posted: Aug. 15)
Helped Team USA improve to 2-1 with a 3-1 win over Venezuela (25-17, 20-25, 25-14 25-18)...started at outside hitter in all four sets and finished with 15 points on 12 kills, two blocks and an ace...(posted: Aug. 12)
Started at outside hitter and contributed eight points on seven kills and a block in Team USA's loss to Cuba in its second Group A Preliminary match (25-15, 26-24, 25-17)...(posted: Aug. 10)
Started at outside hitter and recorded 12 points for Team USA in a 25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21 victory over Japan in the opening match...(posted: Aug. 9)
Former Cardinal outside hitter is one of the most highly-touted veterans on the USA squad...headed to Beijing for her third Olympics...now one of nine three-time Olympians in USA Volleyball history...then age 19, became the youngest Olympian in USA Volleyball history at the 2000 Games, earning a roster spot prior to her sophomore year on The Farm...also competed in Athens in 2004...a four-time collegiate All-American and the 2001 and 2002 AVCA National Player of the Year...(posted: Aug. 1)


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Ranked among the nation's most integrated healthcare systems, Community Health Network is Central Indiana's leader in providing convenient access to exceptional healthcare services, where and when patients need them—in hospitals, health pavilions, workplaces, schools and homes.
Growth not only involves length and weight of a body, but also includes internal growth and development. A child's brain will grow the most during the first five years of life, reaching 90 percent of its final size. Growth also affects different parts of the body at different rates; the head reaches almost its entire size by age one. Throughout childhood, a child's body becomes more proportional to other parts of his/her body. Growth is complete between the ages of 16 and 18, at which time the growing ends of bones fuse.
Important indicators in a child's growth and development are height, weight, and head circumference. A child's health status correlates closely to this growth and development. This pattern is plotted on a growth chart. The following are some average ranges of weight and height, based on growth charts developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Although a child may be growing, his/her growth pattern may deviate from the normal. Ultimately, the child should grow to normal height by adulthood. If you suspect your child is not growing properly, always consult your child's physician.
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