INDUSTRIAL RESTRUCTURING AND THE FORMATION OF CREATIVE INDUSTRY CLUSTERS: THE CASE OF SHANGHAI’S INNER CITY by Sheng Zhong B. Eng., Tongji University, 1994 M. Eng., Tongji University, 1998 M.P.P., National University of Singapore, 2001 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Community and Regional Planning) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2010 © Sheng Zhong, 2010 ABSTRACT In the past two decades, Shanghai has seen a wrenching decline of its traditional industrial sector and then a proliferation of new economy spaces on its derelict industrial sites, the most notable of which are over seventy “Creative Industry Clusters” (CICs) accredited by the Municipal Government. Based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including case studies, semi-structured in-depth interviews, questionnaire surveys, literature review, site visits and observation, photography and mapping, this research found that the vacant spaces resulting from state-triggered industrial restructuring initially accommodated the spontaneous concentration of avant-garde artists and creative workers, a process that was later superseded by the local state’s deliberate planning of creative clusters with the cooperative efforts of both property interests and restructured state-owned enterprises. The processes of inner city changes in Shanghai suggest that the city’s urban restructuring followed a post-socialist rather than post-Fordist trajectory, with the local state exerting significant influence on the outcomes of urban transformations. And in the whole process, the local state was not just dominating, but also remained flexible at certain point in time so that social learning could take place to help it guide future transformations. In addition, the formation of CICs in Shanghai also reveals major differences of China’s “pro-growth coalitions” from its western counterparts. In particular, the Chinese state plays a stronger role while local communities are largely absent from the scene or only temporarily visible. In addition, the dissertation also provides policy recommendations on four inter-woven aspects of Shanghai’s CIC formation, namely social justice, industrial agglomerations, land-use planning and the support for the arts and culture. These four aspects represent the social, economic, physical and cultural dimensions of Shanghai’s CICs respectively. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF PHOTOS ....................................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... xii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................. xv 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 The Origin of CICs ............................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 3 1.2.2 Defining Creative Industry (Clusters) ........................................................................... 6 1.3 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 15 1.3.1 Case Studies ................................................................................................................. 15 1.3.2 Interviews ..................................................................................................................... 16 1.3.3 Questionnaire Surveys ................................................................................................. 17 1.3.4 Other Methods ............................................................................................................. 17 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation ......................................................................................... 18 2 THEORETICAL DEBATES ON URBAN RESTRUCTURING: WESTERN PERSPECTIVES ........................................................................................................................ 20 iii 2.1 Urban Restructuring in the Inner City ................................................................................ 20 2.1.1 Industrial Restructuring............................................................................................... 21 2.1.2 Social Reconstruction .................................................................................................. 25 2.1.3 Physical Changes ........................................................................................................ 28 2.2 Cultural Economy of Cities ................................................................................................ 29 2.2.1 Understanding Agglomerations and Clustering .......................................................... 30 2.2.1.1 Thesis of Flexible Specialization .......................................................................... 31 2.2.1.2 Thesis of Transaction Costs and External Economies .......................................... 32 2.2.1.3 Thesis of Untraded Interdependencies .................................................................. 34 2.2.1.4 Thesis of Knowledge Creation, Learning, and Innovation ................................... 36 2.2.1.5 Thesis of Industrial District—A Synthesis ........................................................... 43 2.2.1.6 Summary: A Relational Geography ...................................................................... 45 2.2.2 The Cultural Economy of Cities .................................................................................. 46 2.2.2.1 Debate on Culture and Commerce ........................................................................ 47 2.2.2.2 Consumption and Consumer Culture.................................................................... 49 2.2.2.3 Cultural Industries and Their Spatial Dynamics ................................................... 52 2.2.2.4 Cultural Economy and Urban Regeneration ......................................................... 58 2.2.2.5 A Closer Look at Bohemian Artists ...................................................................... 60 2.2.2.6 Cultural Industries and Globalization ................................................................... 61 2.3 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 63 3 THEORIES ON ROLES OF THE CHINESE STATE IN URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS ............................................................................................................. 64 3.1 State and Economy ............................................................................................................. 65 3.1.1 Production Sphere ....................................................................................................... 66 3.1.1.1 State-owned Enterprises: Enhanced Autonomy .................................................... 66 3.1.1.2 Developmental State, State Entrepreneurialism and Growth Coalitions: Symbiotic iv State-Business Relationships ............................................................................................ 68 3.1.2 Consumption Sphere .................................................................................................... 72 3.2 State and Society ................................................................................................................. 73 3.2.1 Perspectives of State Domination ................................................................................ 74 3.2.2 Perspectives of State Incapacitation ............................................................................ 75 3.2.3 Perspectives of State-Society Inter-penetration and Ambiguity .................................. 78 3.3 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 82 4 FROM CRADLE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION TO CREATIVE INDUSTRY CLUSTERS ................................................................................................................................. 84 4.1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 84 4.2 Shanghai’s Industrial Development before 1949 ...............................................................