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Abstract
The use of cultural amenities as a tool for strategic planning and the incorporation of the symbolic value of culture by capitalist modes of production have been widely studied. At the same time, debates surrounding the emerging concepts of creative economy and industries have fostered economic development strategies promoting clusters of creative activities. The case of the Territoire de la culture et de la création, in a Paris suburb, illustrates an hybridisation of these two kinds of strategies. As we will explain, the promotion of creative activities (mainly film industries) within the frame of a large urban project should not be seen as an economic strategy but as a planning strategy. Here, supporting creative industries is not this urban project’s goal but its tool. It is a means to give value to a brownfield area, before launching a large and expensive urban project requiring private investors.
Notes
1. The French administrative system is characterised by the superimposition of different levels of government (municipalities, departments and regions) and by a very high number of municipal governments. In order to enhance local integration, cohesion and cooperation, a new level of government has been legislated, the inter-municipal government, in which municipal governments accept to work together to improve public services and to define common urban planning and development strategies. For a better understanding of the French local institutions, politics and planning system, readers may refer to: Knapp and Wright Citation2006, Booth et al. Citation2007, Booth Citation2009).
2. In working class suburbs, the communisme municipal (municipal communism) was characterised by a strong social, political, urban and cultural cohesion: they were working class neighbourhoods with their own culture and spaces of socialisation, massive industrial activities, political control of local governments and social housing lessors and a strong network of community-based organisations.
3. Entrepreneurial municipal communism is a term coined by the authors.
4. The following are data comparing the Plaine Commune territory to the Region in 2006: unemployment 20% (11% at the regional level); working class: 30% (15.6%); median income: 11,133 Euros/year (20,575 Euros/year), taxed household: 54% (72%); without diploma: 30% (16%) (Plaine Commune Citation2007, Rannou-Heim et al. Citation2010).
5. The Grand Paris project is a state-led planning project for the Paris Metropolitan region launched in 2010. Its first objective is to improve public transportation through the construction of a new metro circling the Greater Paris that would link the main economic centres. Its strategic aim is to link and develop 9–10 economic clusters (each one focusing on one economic sector assumed to be clustering nearby) in order to support innovation and enhance economic development (Préfet de Région Ile de France et al. Citation2012). To learn more about Paris-Region governance, see: Kantor et al. Citation2012).
6. The Contrat de Développement Territorial is a new planning procedure specific to the Grand Paris project. This contract between the state and local authorities will organise and plan the urban redevelopment around the new stations.
8. Source: interview. Officer in charge of cultural Affairs, City of Saint Denis.
9. In recent years, the Paris scene for crack dealing and consumption moved to the area around the Gare Saint Denis, near 6B.
10. Some commentators also noted that Luc Besson hired Sarkozy’s former Chief Secretary (Michel Citation2012, Plichon Citation2013).
11. Interview. Architects in charge of the design of new TV studios in La Plaine.
12. From July 2007 (stock exchange listing) to May 2012, the value of its share fell from 15.5 to 1.3 euros and its earnings were negative in 2010 and 2011 (Poussielgue Citation2013).
13. Interview. Creative Entrepreneur, former director of Le Pole, consultant for the Territoire de la culture et de la création.
14. They developed a strategy similar to the negotiations for the building of Stade de France 20 years ago, using a state-led project as leverage for local development and public funding.
15. The cost of this railway bridge between Pleyel and La Plaine has been estimated at roughly 100–150 million Euros.