A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/80226 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications The Making of a Creative City – Urban Cultural Policy and Politics in the Digital Media City (DMC) Seoul by Junmin Song A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Policy Studies University of Warwick, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies September 2015 Abstract This thesis crosses the research fields of cultural policy and urban design, and examines the policies and political contexts of a new globally significant experiment in creative city development: the Seoul Digital Media City (DMC). The DMC is a newly built urban district, intentionally structured as a creative cluster. This research investigation opens by considering the concept of ‘creativity’, and the way it has recently animated national policies for urban, economic, as well as cultural, development. Throughout this thesis, the ever- present conundrum of ‘East-West’ cultural interchange persists, and the thesis attends to the challenges for research in understanding how major Western policy trends (like ‘creative city’ and ‘creative cluster’) are received, adapted and implemented, all the while subject to the specific requiremenets of national Asian policy aspirations. The thesis traces the developmental trajectory of the DMC project, and in the context of explaining its rationale, it conveys the various ways in which the DMC articulates a confluence of political ideals. It presents the main discursive influences of the Creative City trend on South Korea and particularly the municipal government of its capital, Seoul. It explains the political and economic contexts on which Creative City discourse has gained traction, along with the significance of the subsequent ‘Korean Wave’ 2 phenomenon. Largely from an engagement with the literature of the creative city discourse, this thesis articulates fresh criteria for an empirical analysis of the DMC, suitably contextualized by observations on the local contexts of Seoul city urban development and planning. These criteria are used in a case analysis examination of the DMC, which in turn generate further discussion on the implications for adapting Western Creative City policies. The central dimension of the case analysis concerns the assessment of the ‘creative’ content of the DMC, and the terms by which we can define the DMC as creative. The case analysis, however, demonstrates that ‘creativity’ in the DMC is both compromised and fraught with conceptual paradoxes, particularly with regard the issues of authenticity and identity. Nonetheless, the thesis suggests ways in which a substantive role for arts and culture could provide pathways for development. 3 Table of Contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... 7 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................ 8 LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................. 10 PREFACE .................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................. 19 1.1 Research Background ........................................................................ 19 1.2 Research Questions, Aims and Objectives of this Thesis ................... 31 1.3 The Research Scope of the Thesis ..................................................... 35 1.4 Research Methodology ....................................................................... 39 1.5 Structure of the Thesis ........................................................................ 44 1.6 The DMC: Elementary Description and Introduction ........................... 47 Chapter 2. Creativity and Urban Place ..................................................... 70 2.1 Creativity and Urban Place in the West and East ............................... 70 2.1.1 Creativity and Urban Place in the Socio-cultural Economic Triangle ......................................................................................... 71 2.1.2 Creativity and East Asian Urban Place ......................................... 78 2.1.3 Creativity and Korean Urban Place: the Emergence of the DMC . 87 2.2 Urban Cultural Policy and the Creative City ........................................ 94 2.2.1 Theoretical background of the Creative City................................. 95 2.2.2 A Critical View: Policy and Political sphere of the Creative City ... 99 2.2.3 The Creative City vs. Smart City ................................................ 104 2.3 Creative Urban Environment: Creative Cluster and Creative Milieu . 106 2.3.1 Creative Cluster vs. Creative Milieu ........................................... 107 2.3.2 Creative Cluster .......................................................................... 108 2.3.3 Creative Milieu ............................................................................ 111 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 115 Chapter 3. Seoul’s Urban Cultural Policies and Creative Placemaking ................................................................................................................... 116 3.1 CCIs and Government Cultural Policy since 1960 in South Korea ... 117 3.2 ‘Culturenomics’ as the Foundation of Creative City Strategy in Seoul ................................................................................................................ 123 4 3.3 Implementation and Modification of Seoul’s Creative City Strategy .. 127 3.4 Rhetoric of Seoul's Creative City Strategy ........................................ 139 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 145 Chapter 4. South Korean Identity, Creative Worker and the Creative ‘Cluster-Scape’ in Seoul .......................................................................... 147 4.1 Korean Wave, DMC and South Korean Identity ................................ 148 4.1.1 Popularity of Korean Wave under the influence of Western Culture .................................................................................................... 148 4.1.2 The Korean Wave, DMC and Cultural Identity............................ 156 4.2 Creative Workers, Policy Intervention and the Creative ‘Cluster-Scape’ in Seoul ................................................................................................... 160 4.2.1 Creative Class Theory in the Korean Context ............................ 161 4.2.2 State Intervention and the Creative Cluster-Scape in Seoul ...... 165 4.2.3 Creative workers, Gentrification, Creative cluster-scape in Seoul .................................................................................................... 172 Conclusion.............................................................................................. 180 Chapter 5. Case Analysis Method and Methodology ............................ 179 5.1 Literature Review: Mapping Criteria for Analysis of the DMC as a Creative Urban Place .............................................................................. 182 5.1.1 Criterion for analysing case analysis location, DMC ................... 188 5.1.2 Final observations ...................................................................... 211 5.2 Research Philosophies ..................................................................... 214 5.2.1 Research Strategy ...................................................................... 214 5.3 Research Methods ............................................................................ 216 5.3.1 Justification and Limitations of Case Locations .......................... 216 5.3.2 Data Collection ........................................................................... 219 5.3.3 Conducting the Case Study ........................................................ 222 5.3.4 Fieldwork .................................................................................... 223 5.3.5 Interviews and Survey ................................................................ 225 5.3.6 Observations .............................................................................. 228 5.4 Advantages and Limitations of the Methodology ............................. 230 Chapter 6. The Seoul DMC: analysing creative urban place I: policy, planning and creative urbanity ............................................................. 234 6.1 Policy and Management ................................................................... 235 5 6.1.1 Policy Strategy in the Development Process of DMC: Top-Down Approach ..................................................................................... 235 6.1.2 Implementation