With 3 days left until the start of our actual trip to Canada, we thought it would be helpful to explain what in fact this project is about.
Or as Montell Jordan put it in his 1995 R&B classic: This is how we do it.
As the theoretical backbone of our project, we utilized the following scientific texts:
- „Creativity in the city“ by Richard Florida, Charlotte Meldender and Patrick Adler
- „The self-culturalization of the city. On the transformation of modern urbanity in the creative city“ by Andreas Reckwitz.
After analyzing the given theory and dealing with various characteristics that seemed to define a Creative City, we ended up creating our own set of characteristics including the six elements mentioned by Reckwitz.
Based on those characteristics, we want to build our own „Creativity Profile“ – something which later can be used by urban planners, companies, cities or even universities who want their campus to be more inspiring.
So far, this creativity profile bears the uninspiring working title „HdM Super System“. The system helps us to categorize Creative Cities and to create an individual profile for each of the cities we are going to visit.
The „HdM Super System“ consists of the following 11 characteristics:
The art scene belongs to Creative Industries but does not focus on the products made by Creative Industries. The art scene is part of the daily life and the lifestyle in a city: It is human-made, keeps the scene alive and characterizes the different forms of art.
Creative Industries are the preamble for companies which offer cultural or creative products, media productions or services in an economically oriented way. They work artistically, literary, cultural, musically and/or architecturally. Every creative or fertile act is included.
The presence of Consumer Culture is essential for the Creative City because nowadays, shopping is considered to be a proper leisure activity and shopping opportunities (with associated events → experience shopping) are highly relevant for the tourism of a city. It’s important to find out how Consumer Culture is practiced in the cities with particular attention to whether it is only about standardized mass (chain stores) or special/independent stores.
In a city which is culture oriented, High Profile Culture (theaters, the opera, museums, etc.) got modernized. It moved away from old theater or opera buildings to public places and events like open-air concerts. Furthermore, a new kind of museum is established which shows diverse and local specialties.
Aestheticized City Districts basically describe those parts of a city which have been modernized with the purpose of making them more livable, as well as visually and aesthetically pleasing.
According to Reckwitz, culturally oriented (creative) cities can be identified by their (many) unique and extraordinary buildings. Usually, these buildings charm with their interior as well. Altogether, they have most likely become established landmarks which are widely acknowledged by residents and tourists.
Demography describes the population and its dynamics. Two of the 3T’s by Florida, talent & tolerance, can be analyzed using demographic research, as diversity and the share of young academic people in a population.
Examination of local history and the city’s traditions. Besides, it is important to analyze if there are any relations between those features and the city’s singularity.
Third Places are social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home („first place“) and the workplace („second place“). Examples of third places can be environments such as churches, cafes, clubs, public libraries, or parks.
An area used by the public for recreation (e.g. green areas, waters/lakes, parks, recreation activities)
How does the city itself present its characteristic features and what impact is viewable?
Following the analysis above, we proposed a research question:
Based on which characteristics is creativity visible in a city?
How does the research work?
It consists of a theoretical part (mostly desk research at home) and a practical part (field trips, interviews, etc. on site).
First, we analyze existing data (e.g. netnography, statistics, etc.). Then, we visit the Creative Cities of Toronto, Montreal, Heidelberg & Mannheim to gain deeper insights into what makes these cities creative. On site, we will conduct interviews with residents, tourists, and experts, we will go on field trips, make observations, and take pictures.
The entire project is a huge experiment containing quite a lot of variables. It’s the first joint course between Stuttgart Media School and our partners at Ryerson in Toronto, which makes this experience even more interesting.
We are extremely excited about our upcoming trip to Canada and we are equally excited about the results and the outcome of our project.
We will keep you updated!