Creative city development in the Lisbon strategy: Evidence from Dutch ERDF allocation

Creativity is considered a main factor of urban competitiveness nowadays. However, while local policies increasingly reflect the ideas of Richard Florida, Charles Landry and others, the influence of the creative city concept on higher level policies is not clear. The paper takes this issue to the European Union’s Lisbon strategy, intended to make Europe the most competitive economy by 2010. It addresses the questions to what extent the main characteristics of the creative city are part of the Lisbon objectives, and to what extent they are reflected by structural funds allocation. The first is analysed by confronting the objectives formulated in EU policy documents with the key elements of creative city development; the latter by means of a case study of the allocation of Dutch European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) expenditure in the 2007-2013 period.Urban studiesOTB Research Institut

What makes a city? Planning for "quality of place": The case of high-speed train station area redevelopment

Urban quality is generally considered increasingly important for urban competitiveness. Nevertheless, large urban redevelopment schemes often fail to provide sufficient quality from a user's perspective. This study therefore investigates the role of urban quality in large-scale urban redevelopment, which is here elaborated in terms of Richard Florida's concept of quality of place. In a number of extensive case studies, it focuses on prestigious redevelopment projects around the high-speed rail stations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Lille. Unlike typical office locations such as La Dnse or Canary Wharf, HST stations are often located in city centres. They are important as public spaces, which makes it even more important that they are high-quality urban areas, rather than simply business locations. The study therefore provides an analysis of the role of urban quality in the development of these projects, based on an analysis of the project plans and a series of in-depth interviews with key actors in the planning process. This also results in some insight in the applicability of the concept of quality of place in a wider Dutch context. In conclusion, the study advocates a more open and flexible planning process, based on a distinctly long-term perspective on urban quality. The approaches that come closest to the essence of quality of place tend to be expressed in terms of cultural or human ecology, people-oriented design and the inhabiting of public space. These terms suggest a guided evolution rather than straightforward development.OT

The role of business incubators in the development of sustainable clusters of cultural and creative industries

Clusters of cultural and creative industries are rather widespread in and surrounding inner cities. The development and dynamics of these clusters are objects of study of various conceptual approaches: some aim at their role and significance for urban development, others at their development and dynamics as such. These latter approaches focus primarily on producers or consumers of cultural or creative goods. By contrast, this paper explores the role of a particular type of secondary or ancillary activity - the business incubator - in the development of these clusters. The paper is explorative and draws no explicit conclusions. Nevertheless, the incubator appears to be an ancillary activity that contributes in various manners to sustainable cluster development, i.e. not only by their output of young, trained entrepreneurs in possession of up-to-date knowledge and skills, but also by means of, for instance, their buildings and social networks.</p

Planning for quality? Assessing the role of quality of place in current Dutch planning practice

In recent years, an attractive urban environment has increasingly been recognized as a factor of local competitiveness in a globalizing world. Notably, Richard Florida and Charles Landry have stressed the importance of the concept of quality of place. The implications of their often criticized, but nevertheless widely adhered ideas for current planning practices are, however, not unequivocally clear, especially with regard to large-scale redevelopment areas where notions of quality of place may clash with short-term profits goals. This paper assesses the role of quality of place in current planning practices by examining two projects, the Zuidas in Amsterdam and the Central Station area in Rotterdam. It analyses public and private actors' perceptions of quality of place, the role of quality of place in the complex arenas of decision making, and the respective responsibilities of public and private actors based on an examination of the plans and on a series of interviews with key actors involved in these projects. The expectation that public actors would be crucial, if not alone, in aiming at quality of place issues turns out to be too simple; private sector developers also tend to rely on a long-term perspective that stresses quality of place

Regional Implementation Plan Rotterdam - Delft

OTBArchitecture and The Built Environmen