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Dr Melanie Smith & James KennellBudapest Business School &
University of Greenwich Business SchoolEmail: [email protected]
Creative Routes to Regeneration: Are we on the right track?
All we need is a Modern Art Museum……
All we need is a Waterfront Development…..
All we need is a big Sporting Event….
All we need is a Capital of Culture......
All we need is a ‘Starchitect’......
All we need is some Public Art….
We think that we wanted all of this.....
But are we sure we wanted what we got......??
Maybe what we really need is this.....
More ‘grass-roots’, bottom-up, community-led initiatives
More focus on intangible elements of culture
More emphasis on alternative or fringe culture
Increased promotion of everyday life
The creation of ‘playful’, interactive, experiential spaces
Some ad hoc, organic development outside planning
More visitor freedom & creativity to be a co-creator
„The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship -- around participation in public life.”
(Rebecca Solnit, 2001)
Bottom-up cultural activity
Small-scale approaches
Community-led development
Entrepreneur-led development?
And maybe all we can afford is....
(Kennell 2013)
But what do tourists want?
The Shift from Cultural to Creative
Key Elements of Creativity
Creative people/class Creative process/activities Creative products/attractions Creative environments/clusters
(Richards, 2011)
Everyday Creativity Craft Cultural refinement Self-expressive creativity Interpersonal creativity Sophisticated media consumption
(Ivcevic & Mayer, 2009)
Visitor Experience of Creativity
From passive to active and interactive experiences
(Smith, 2009)
‘Experiential’ and ‘existential’ dimensions of creativity
(Nelson & Rawlings, 2009)
Cultural creatives in Western Society also looking for ‘green’ experiences
(Ray & Anderson, 2000)
Creative TourismBut also:
„Exploring and expressing one’s creative potential whilst on holiday. The activities and the relationship to the self are the primary focus. Context or setting is secondary”
„Enjoying attractions and activities which are linked to the creative industries, and which tend to be interactive or experiential in nature”
(Smith, 2009)
„Creativity can either be the central motivation for tourism, as with the more formalised provision, or else a more peripheral experience in which the creativity of people and places adds ‘atmosphere’ and animation to the general tourist experience of places”
(Richards, 2012)
Creative tourism as authentic, educational, participative engagement with local people & places
(Richards & Raymond, 2000; UNESCO, 2006)
The Creative Visitor Economy
Experiences can be spontaneous not only designed & paid for!
Visitors are more demanding, sophisticated, experienced
Visitors cannot easily be typologised (but we may still need to understand differences between Gen X, Y & Z & different nationality groups etc)
Need for customization, tailoring, uniqueness
Visitors as co-creators of their own experience
‘Tactical tourists’ want to actively engage in real activities with local people
Visitors as indistinguishable from locals
Creative tourism and economic development
Small scale– Limited growth
potential– Specialist market
Often off-radar
Draws on local resources
Can add uniqueness to the visitor offer
Next steps for creative tourism and economic development
Networking Mapping Fine grained policy
approaches Business finance
key issue
Joint promotional activity
Advocacy Creative tourism as
part of the local economic mix
Are we too late?
“Harnessing the creative energies of the consumer becomes increasingly important as some of the existing spaces developed for heritage or cultural tourism seem to be losing their competitive edge. These problems are particularly acute in the UK…” (Richards and Wilson, 2006).
