2. Go Where? Creative Industries After the Global Financial Crisis

Cities have signified excitement, movement, chaos, political intrigue and opportunity since—at least—the industrial revolution. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed theories for political change while watching the twisting Manchester landscape, bending and buckling under the speed of economic and social change caused by the textile industry. Yet in the century that followed, urbanity started to be marketed, gentrified and celebrated, displacing the industrial tailings and poor health of the workforce. Since the first set of creative industries policies were instigated by the Tony Blair government in 1997, economic development and city development have been tethered. Researchers such as Richard Florida, Charles Landry and Charles Leadbeater have aligned progress with urbanity. Certainly, there is positive correlation between urbanization and per capital income. Efficiencies in agriculture frees a population to move into cities. Through the history of the creative industries, the challenges and specificities of small, third-tier cities have been under-discussed. Indeed, a series of proxies—such as the presence of a gay community or ‘bohemians’—have been the building blocks for researchers of a creative city. This has meant that assumptions have dominated the creative industries literature. The most damaging and seductive is the theory of cultural modelling. Researchers suggest that the practices that operate well in San Francisco in the United States or Manchester in England will have a relevance and resonance in Wagga Wagga or Invercargill. Indeed, even the relevance of Manchester’s regeneration to Bolton, Blackburn or Morecambe is questionable.