Phase 1 Research Report - Executive Summary
Introduction
Strategies for Creative Spaces is a collaborative project between the cities of London and Toronto. A joint venture between the London Development Agency (Creative London and the Evidence & Evaluation Team), the City of Toronto and the Ontario Ministries of Economic Development & Trade, and Culture.
This project will develop strategies to enhance the growth and development of creative spaces in both cities. Drawing on international best practices identified through a combination of desk and field research, the project will identify optimal strategies for building the necessary infrastructure and environment in which creativity can flourish.
The project is being carried out in three phases between December 2004 until March 2006.
Phase 1 – literature review and global scan of creative city and cluster strategies, policies and projects. Identification and evaluation of the key success factors and ‘levers’ that are used internationally to pursue and sustain the development of the creative cluster.
Phase 2 – drawing on the findings of phase 1, a comparative analysis and evaluation of the approaches taken by selected case study cities, including study tours of Barcelona, Berlin and New York, as well as London and Toronto themselves, and how they might be transferred and applied to both cities.
Phase 3 – the development and refinement of city specific strategies for developing and sustaining creative spaces and stimulating the creative cluster in London and Toronto.
The following is a summary of the findings of Phase 1. Material from over 50 cities in over 75 countries has been analysed in terms of the rationales used for policies and projects in order to assess where good practice and transferable examples may exist. An online database of published evidence has been created and is available at www.citiesinstitute.org/creativespaces. This executive summary and