Production of creative spaces

Abstract

As an emerging global city, Shanghai has experienced significant growth in its creative economy over the past two decades. By reconstructing a large number of old constructions into creative industry clusters, Shanghai has attracted a significant number of creative talents from across the globe. Informed by the theoretical discourse on the social network- based understanding of the production of creative spaces, this paper engages in a semi-structured interview analysis to shed light on the formation mechanism of place-anchored networks in Shanghai’s design industries. Creative spaces for the design industry in Shanghai are largely concentrated in inner-city areas and consist of six functional types: design enterprises or studios, arts and creative parks, educational institutions, exhibition centres, social networking spaces, and cultural and business areas. These multi-layered creative spaces are formed through intensive social interactions, knowledge spillovers, and functional complementation among creative designers and institutions. Finally, the implications of place-anchored networks for creative industries are discussed within the context of the planning and design of creative cities.

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere acknowledgement to the anonymous reviewers and editors who help us improving the quality of the paper through two rounds of revision. The research was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 42171214, 42171207), National Social Science Foundation of China (19AZD007), and Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2021-01-07-00-08-E00130).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mingfeng Wang

Professor Mingfeng Wang is a Professor at the Center for Modern Chinese City Studies and the School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University. His research focuses on urban and economic geography, information and communication technologies, and regional development.

Jinliao He

Professor Jinliao He is a Research Professor at the Center for Modern Chinese City Studies and the Institute of Urban Development, East China Normal University. His research interests are cultural and creative industries, creative cities, skilled migration, spatial planning and urban governance.

Ne Zhao

Ne Zhao is a geography teacher at No.1 High School Affiliated with East China Normal University. She graduated from the School of Urban and Regional Science at East China Normal University, where she was involved in the NSFC-funded project for the co-evolution of an emerging industry and global city region.