Abstract
A case study of a redevelopment project in Halifax, Nova Scotia illustrates the way in which creative governance facilitated collaboration and innovation in a region with a history of poor inter-governmental relations and traditional urban–rural rivalries. Influential civic entrepreneurs took advantage of the pervasive aura of the ‘creative cities’ discourse and the thick connections among local social networks to bring the resources of three levels of government together to support the planning and development of a ‘cultural district’ on the Halifax waterfront.
Notes
1. Support for this research, provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under MCRI Grant 412-2005-1001, is gratefully acknowledged. The national study, led by David Wolfe at the University of Toronto, is examining 15 cities of varying sizes across Canada.
2. This project began as the ‘Seawall’ Redevelopment but the Port ‘rebranded’ it in 2006.
3. We have changed some job titles and institutional names to try to obscure the identity of key individuals in the networks.