Milieus of Creativity is the second volume in the book series Knowledge and Space. This book deals with spatial disparities of knowledge and the impact of environments, space and contexts on the production and application of knowledge. The contributions in this volume focus on the role of places, environments, and spatial contexts for the emergence and perpetuation of creativity. Is environment a social or a spatial phenomenon? Are only social factors relevant for the development of creativity or should one also include material artefacts and resources in its definition? How can we explain spatial disparities of creativity without falling victim to geodeterminism? This book offers insights from various disciplines such as environmental psychology, philosophy, and social geography. It presents the results of a research conference at Heidelberg University in September 2006, which was supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.
'Creative Urban Milieus' is an interdisciplinary examination of the historical relationship between culture and the economy in such cities as Berlin, New York, Helsinki, London, Venice, and many others.
This volume offers a coherent set of articles on sustainable and creative cities and addresses modern theories and concepts relating to research on sustainability and creativity. It analyses principles and practices of the creative city for the formulation of policies and recommendations towards the sustainable city. It brings together leading academics with different approaches from different disciplines to provide a comprehensive and holistic overview of creativity and sustainability of the city, linking research and practice.
The concept of social innovation offers an alternative perspective on development and territorial transformation, one which foregrounds innovation in social relations. This volume presents a broad-ranging and insightful exploration of social innovation and how it can affect life, society and economy, especially within local communities. It addresses key questions about the nature of social innovation as a process and a strategy and explores what opportunities may exist, or may be generated, for social innovation to nourish human development. It puts forward alternative development options which variously highlight solidarity, co-operation, cultural-artistic endeavour and diversity. In doing so, this book offers a provocative response to the predominant neoliberal economic vision of spatial, economic and social change.
With the publication of The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida in 2002, the 'creative city' became the new hot topic among urban policymakers, planners and economists. Florida has developed one of three path-breaking theories about the relationship between creative individuals and urban environments. The economist Åke E. Andersson and the psychologist Dean Simonton are the other members of this 'creative troika'. In the Handbook of Creative Cities, Florida, Andersson and Simonton appear in the same volume for the first time. The expert contributors in this timely Handbook extend their insights with a varied set of theoretical and empirical tools. The diversity of the contributions reflect the multidisciplinary nature of creative city theorizing, which encompasses urban economics, economic geography, social psychology, urban sociology, and urban planning. The stated policy implications are equally diverse, ranging from libertarian to social democratic visions of our shared creative and urban future. Being truly international in its scope, this major Handbook will be particularly useful for policy makers that are involved in urban development, academics in urban economics, economic geography, urban sociology, social psychology, and urban planning, as well as graduate and advanced undergraduate students across the social sciences and in business.
This book investigates the evolving paradigm of creative industries and creative entrepreneurship, and their related economy over time. It explores different stages of the paradigm diffusion in ‘first generation countries’ such as the US, Canada, Australia and Europe, and ‘second generation countries’ in Asia, South America and North Africa in order to identify new trends and their distinctive aspects. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the book develops a comprehensive overview of the composite phenomenon of the creative economy and its relationship with entrepreneurship.
What is ‘design creativity’? It is impossible to answer this question without considering why human beings can – and do – ‘design’. Design creativity is instrumental in not only addressing social problems faced across the world, but also evoking an innate appreciation for beauty and a sense of personal contentment. Design Creativity 2010 comprises advanced research findings on design creativity and perspectives on future directions of design creativity research. The papers included were presented and discussed at the first ICDC (International Conference on Design Creativity), which was held at Kobe, Japan, in 2010. Design Creativity 2010 encourages readers to enhance and expand their activities in the field of design creativity.
This book presents a critical reimagining of education and educational research in addressing practices of representation and their relation to epistemology, subjectivity and ontology in the context of early childhood education. Drawing on posthumanist perspectives and the immanent materialism of Deleuze & Guattari to conceive of early childhood education, childhood and indeed, adult life, in new ways, it highlights the powerful role of language in subjectivity and ontology, and introduces affectensity as a concept which can be put to work to undo habitual relations and meanings. It proposes that ethical becomings require the engagement of an expansion and intensification of a body’s affect or capacity, and offers readers a provocation for enhancing creative capacity as an ethic. This book is an important contribution to the discussions on methods for living and of ways of thinking commensurate with the orientation of a posthuman turn.
ÔThe challenges of poverty and social exclusion cannot be fully resolved through conventional public sector policies and market-led innovation. The case studies in this Handbook capture some of the key success factors of socially innovative action in different socio-economic contexts. This Handbook will inspire readers as it highlights the creativity and commitment of diverse enterprises and movements working for social innovation.Õ Ð Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, United Republic of Tanzania, and retired UN Under Secretary General, immediate former Executive Director of UN-HABITAT ÔSocial innovation may not be a new idea but it is clearly an idea whose time has come, not least because the traditional models of innovation Ð narrowly framed technical models Ð have run their course and no longer resonate in a world of societal challenges. This Handbook has two great merits Ð it brings conceptual rigour to the debate and it provides compelling narratives of social innovation in practice.Õ Ð Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University, UK ÔIn an era where social innovation is re-emerging as an important policy framework for bringing social transformation, this volume is a significant contribution to the theory and practice of social innovation. The incremental discussion from concepts to theory to practice and then to social innovation research is supported by cases literally from all over the globe. It moves the discourse from isolated models of neighbourhood engagements and social enterprises, to a comprehensive, multidimensional approach combining needs, social relations and empowerment. A must read for academicians, learners, practitioners and policy makers alike.Õ Ð S. Parasuraman, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India ÔSocial innovation is an important instrument for understanding how contemporary societies deal with social change and how social practices and policies intended to combat poverty and social exclusion are developed and implemented effectively. The Handbook offers a valuable contribution to the development of a clear, transdisciplinary and critical understanding of social innovation practices. The reader will find an in-depth discussion of the most important theoretical approaches to the concept and a thorough exposition of the epistemological and methodological framework for research in social innovation. The volume includes a number of interesting case studies in different areas of social change and issues of policy and governance.Õ Ð Enzo Mingione, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy This enriching Handbook covers many aspects of the scientific and socio-political debates on social innovation today. The contributors provide an overview of theoretical perspectives, methodologies and instructive experiences from all continents, as well as implications for collective action and policy. They argue strongly for social innovation as a key to human development. The Handbook defines social innovation as innovation in social relations within both micro and macro spheres, with the purpose of satisfying unmet or new human needs across different layers of society. It connects social innovation to empowerment dynamics, thus giving a political character to social movements and bottom-up governance initiatives. Together these should lay the foundations for a fairer, more democratic society for all. This interdisciplinary work, written by scholars collaborating to develop a joint methodological perspective toward social innovation agency and processes, will be invaluable for students and researchers in social science and humanities. It will also appeal to policy makers, policy analysts, lobbyists and activists seeking to give inspiration and leadership from a social innovation perspective.
This book introduces a radically spatialised approach to knowledge creation and innovation. Reflecting on an array of European urban and regional developments, it offers an updated notion of milieu as the conceptual and material space of knowledge and innovation in line with the interpretative turn in social sciences and humanities. In view of the unwillingness of mainstream economics to accommodate such a trend, the authors pursue a broadly understood hermeneutic approach that expands on the triad of knowledge-space-innovation. The book’s main findings are that space is an essential intermediary in the connection between knowledge and innovation, and that a renewed notion of milieu provides the knowledge-space-innovation triad with both an analytical basis and operational power. It also offers fresh insights into the significance and potential of the knowledge economy. A number of empirical European case studies on various scales (organisations, cities and territories) support the findings and suggest new policy directions.
