A Study on the Spatial Difference of Creative Industrial Zones in Shanghai

立命館地理学第 21 号 (2009) 29-42 A Study on the Spatial Difference of Creative Industrial Zones in Shanghai CHU Jinfeng* and KAGAWA Takashi** ing the famous Tianzifang, were set up in Ⅰ．Introduction Shanghai. These creative industrial zones have The 21st century is an era defined by the attracted and accommodated over 800 creative knowledge economy, and the economic develop- industrial enterprises from more than 30 coun- ment of rich countries and regions has been tries and regions, such as the USA and Japan marked by the rapid growth of creative indus- who have hired among them more then ten tries. In a sense, the development of creative thousand workers and been engaged in indus- industries which are based on innovation and trial design, game softwares, motion picture creativity has become an important indicator design, web-based media, and fashion arts. In of the comprehensive competitiveness of a Nov. 2005 and May and Nov. 2006, the second, country or region. Therefore, over the recent third and fourth groups of creative industrial years, quite a few countries and regions, such as zones were set up, increasing the total number 2) the UK, Japan, Singapore, and some area in of creative industrial zones to 75 . China have come to consider creative industries According to the Eleventh Five-year Plan as their pillar industries, and have adopted (2006–2010) for the social and economic devel- various policies and measures to push the opment of Shanghai, Shanghai will make great development of their creative industries1). efforts to nurture and promote creative indus- Similarly, the city of Shanghai, which is on the tries. In the first place, the city will try to way to becoming a global city, has attached great increase their size and scale, and the goal is importance to its creative industries. In April that, by 2010, the industrial output of creative 2005, the Municipal Government of Shanghai industries in Shanghai will account for about 8% put together a Creative Industries Service of the GDP of the city. Meanwhile, the city will Center, headed by the Municipal Economic also try to optimize the geographical pattern of Commission of Shanghai, or a platform where creative industries and improve their competi- various necessary services are provided for the tiveness, aiming to turn the city into a Capital of development of creative industries, and at the Creative Industries with a high level of interna- same time, 18 creative industrial zones, includ- tional participation, a strong driving power for * Department of Geography, Shanghai Normal University ** Department of Geography, Kyoto University of Education Key words：Creative Industry, Urban Development, Spatial Difference, Shanghai, China 29 CHU Jinfeng・KAGAWA Takashi the general economy and a strong momentum. environment is more open, there is more toler- The city expects to be a magnet of creative ance and fewer entry barriers, the culture is talents, a hub of creative and cultural concepts, more diversified, and more public services are and a center for exchanges and trading of available. They have also specified the features creative industries. of metropolitan areas that will attract certain Based on the 75 creative industrial zones in creative industries. William J. Mitchell (1999) Shanghai, this paper will study their spatial holds that a city needs right locational attrac- organization geographically, investigate the for- tions to maintain its drive for innovation, and mation mechanism of creative industries, and that a pleasant and upbeat local environment, try to generalize three models of development. high-quality education and medical services, abundant and flexible transportation facilities and public services available would make rapid Ⅱ．Previous Studies on Creative relocation of economic activities possible6). Industrial Zones Harvey Luskin Molotch (1996) believes that For a long time, geographers and sociologists local cultural features and the symbolic meaning have been investigating the influence of geo- of local cultural products and images are inter- graphical adjacence and convergence on innova- twined, giving rise to creative industries with tion and economic growth. Concerning creative local colors. It is especially true in urban loca- industry clusters, Richard E. Caves (2002) has tions where certain cultures are originated, provided an analytical framework for spatial such fashion in Paris and opera houses in concentration of industrial sectors that produce London7). Charles Landry (2000) mentions the intangible assets3), Elizabeth Currid (2006, 344) concept of creative industrial zones while has presented the fact that art and cultural explaining creative situations, and believes that sectors are rather concentrated in New York, the booming economy of bits and bytes has and pointed out that “industrial clusters are given birth to the creative industrial zones in very likely to appear where there is originality New York and London at the end of the 20th and innovation”4)., and Allen J. Scott (2005) century8). Harald Bathelt (2004), by the exam- explains how Hollywood has become and will ple of the Leipzig media industry, analyzes the continue to be the biggest and the most conglomeration of media industry in horizontal, influential cultural cluster in the world5). All vertical, institutional, external and capacity those cities mentioned and studied have gone dimensions and proposes the concept of multidi- through several phases of development, and the mensional conglomeration9). Brian Knudsen and geographical adjacency and population density Richard Florida et al. (2007) have approached are their common drives for development. population density and tried to analyze the rela- Many studies have shown that creative indus- tionship between the conglomeration of innova- try clusters tend to exist in urban areas, espe- tion and economic growth and spatial cluster10). cially metropolitan areas, where the market Some scholars have revealed that creative 30 A Study on the Spatial Difference of Creative Industrial Zones in Shanghai industrial zones tend to favor old warehouses, old phere changes, and the appeal to young artists factories and old quarters of big cities. For and novelists has disappeared. Such is the case instance, Justin O’Connor (2006) believes that with the area to the south of Huston and the certain areas in a city is most attractive to eastern part of New York15). creative industries, which is proved by the In summary, creative industrial zones have highly concentrated art industry zones11), while three features: first, they are old factory houses Thomas Hutton maintains that creative industrial and old warehouses, or leftovers of the early zones, particularly those composed mainly of industrialization, of which the internal space is design and ideation service sectors, are most flexible; second, they are inner city areas where likely to be located in inner cities or at the edge the house rental is low; and third, there must be of CBDs in big cities, and mostly concentrated in a free, flexible and active environment for work historical buildings or complexes. Such areas and life. These three features decide whether accommodating creative industries are referred an area can become a creative industrial zone. to as new production spaces in the city. He also believes that different design and creative Ⅲ．Development of Creative Industries service sectors are located in different areas in in Shanghai and Their Spatial Effect the city. Generally, famous design businesses are concentrated in CBDs, ordinary design busi- Shanghai is different from London, New York nesses are located at the edge of CBDs or inner or Tokyo in the development of creative indus- cities, while production services exist at the tries. Creative industries in these three cities peripheral of inner cities or in mid-sized cities12). were started when they entered the post- Some other scholars have investigated the industrialization era, and they can utilize the spatial changes of creative industrial zones. For best digital technologies and other resources instance, Ann Markusen and David King made available by globalization. On the other (2003)13), and Richard E. Caves (2002)14) believe hand, creative industries have grown up amid that the spatial formation of creative industrial rapid industrialization, which gives Shanghai a zones tend to go through such a process: at first, huge and still increasing market. Therefore, poor and obscure artists and novelists concen- creative industries in Shanghai shall first and trate in old towns where house rentals are low, foremost serve the development of advanced and later such places become cultural and art manufacturing and modern services, and at the clusters with bigger size and influence, and same time, upgrade the humanistic and innova- begin to attract famous artists and rich custom- tive environment of the city16). ers and gradually become high-end fashion The total output of creative industries in zones, which help house rentals and prices to Shanghai for the year 2006 amounts to RMB soar. In this way, some yet unknown artists 229,171 million, which is RMB 67,459 million, have to transfer to other peripheral areas, and or 22%, more than the previous year, and the originally relaxed, free and active atmos- represents 6.55% of the city’s total GDP17). 31 CHU Jinfeng・KAGAWA Takashi Fig. 1 Growth of Creative Industries in Shanghai, 2004–2006 Source: Shanghai Creative Industry Development Report 2007, Shanghai Creative Industry Center

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