Game on! a report on the interactive leisure software subsector in London

There is a paucity of good quality data on the UK video games industry. Information such as value-added, investment on R&D, average annual expenditure on training and the value of video games in terms of exports, for example, is thin or incomplete. This is a serious problem. If we are to improve the competitiveness of the UK games development sector then we must have better quality information. Games developers will then be able to benchmark their business activities against industry averages. Overseas investors will also then be better informed about the benefits of investing in the UK leisure software sector. This Report confirms the lacunae in our knowledge that exists about the video games industry. For example, the Office of National Statistics still does not have a specific code to identify interactive leisure software businesses. Yet the Report also shines a light on the video games industry in the UK in general and in London in particular

Film in the city: a report on the film & video sub-Sector in London

The movie business, and the distribution of films through the associated cinema and home video sectors is a truly global phenomenon. In terms of both production and distribution, Hollywood has traditionally dominated international markets, however, with radical innovations in information and digital technologies and the spread of the Internet, it has become increasingly easier to make and distribute films around the world . Coupled with this is the ‘runaway production’ concept, whereby Hollywood productions are no longer tied to site-specific studios and can choose to shoot and edit their (usually high-budget) movies in locations around the globe. This has created an international market where cities, such as Vancouver, Sydney, Brisbane, Prague, Cape Town, London and many more, compete for big movie business. London has a thriving film and video sub-sector and a highly competitive infrastructure, nurtured by a host of supporting institutions, which together create a powerful creative network of players capable of competing at a global scale. The physical geography of the city also matters to the film industry, not only in terms of shooting locations, but also in determining where to locate, pitch or exhibit the final creative product. Consequently, the location and interconnected value chain of producers, post-production, financiers, sales agents and distributors, cinemas and theatres, as well as the myriad of specialised and highly skilled workforce is key to the industry’s success. The co-location and clustering tendencies of individuals and institutions located at close proximity in London and highlighted in this report are evidence of the intense social networking that characterises the industry

A Report on the Design Sub-Sector in London

Housed in the School of Creative Enterprise at the London College of Communication (University of the Arts), the Creative Industries Observatory (CIO) is a leading contributor to academic research and analysis within the creative industries, and a source of information for the increasingly influential group of sub-sectors that characterise the modern knowledge economy. The CIO was set up in conjunction with ‘Creative Capital World City’ (CCWC) – a project funded by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) aimed at supporting the creative industries in key world markets, including THE UK, India and China. The CIO is an international and multi-disciplinary team with a range of expertise and experience across academic disciplines and industry sub-sectors. We focus on strategic, structural and definitional issues relevant to the creative industries. This report is one in a series designed to give policy makers, business leaders, practitioners and researchers a comprehensive overview and in-depth analysis of the core activities and key characteristics across thirteen creative sub-sectors in developed and emerging global cities. The report is designed to allow you to identify information that is relevant to your needs quickly and effectively, as well as cross-reference between topics and creative sub-sectors. CIO reports are designed to provide a snapshot of each sub-sector in each city. This report focuses on the design sub-sector in London

The Queen's building, 2013

Inside the Queen's Building, 37-43 Rutland Street

Old and new graffiti in the Queen's building, 2013

Some of the original graffiti of Dielectric remains, alongside what looks like much newer graffiti inside the Queen's Building, 37-43 Rutland Street

Sydney : brought to you by world city and cultural industry actor-networks.

There have been recent contributions to the world city literature and the new economic geography literature that have focused on city connectivity and practicebased research, through concepts such as city actor-networks, relational geographies and project-led enquiries. As this literature is developing, this thesis aims to analyse and contribute to it by providing an empirical focus in two main themes that have so far been marginalised in these literatures – the city of Sydney, and the cultural industries. An alternative conceptualisation of world cities, namely ‘new urbanism’, which employs Actor-Network Theory, will be utilised in this thesis to ask the question, what are the actants of Sydney’s cultural industries (specifically the film and TV production industry), and how are they enrolled to create the spacing and timing of Sydney’s actor-networks? By answering this question, this thesis will contribute to the knowledge in three ways: theoretically, by adding weight to the alternative concepts of new urbanism and relational economic geographies; empirically, by studying two themes that have been hitherto underdeveloped in the existing literature; and methodologically, through new developing empirical agendas that cover the quantification of Sydney’s world city network and ANT-inspired ethnographic, ‘project-based’ enquiry

Sydney : brought to you by world city and cultural industry actor-networks

There have been recent contributions to the world city literature and the new economic geography literature that have focused on city connectivity and practicebased research, through concepts such as city actor-networks, relational geographies and project-led enquiries. As this literature is developing, this thesis aims to analyse and contribute to it by providing an empirical focus in two main themes that have so far been marginalised in these literatures – the city of Sydney, and the cultural industries. An alternative conceptualisation of world cities, namely ‘new urbanism’, which employs Actor-Network Theory, will be utilised in this thesis to ask the question, what are the actants of Sydney’s cultural industries (specifically the film and TV production industry), and how are they enrolled to create the spacing and timing of Sydney’s actor-networks? By answering this question, this thesis will contribute to the knowledge in three ways: theoretically, by adding weight to the alternative concepts of new urbanism and relational economic geographies; empirically, by studying two themes that have been hitherto underdeveloped in the existing literature; and methodologically, through new developing empirical agendas that cover the quantification of Sydney’s world city network and ANT-inspired ethnographic, ‘project-based’ enquiry.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Beyond urban subcultures: urban subversions as rhizomatic social formations

The article discusses what we term urban social formations and expands on prior work that predominantly examines urban ‘subcultures’ as opposed to the world city paradigm and homogeneous cityscapes. We describe the process of ‘subculturalization’ through which urban social formations, after they have been marginalized and illegalized, become formalized as subcultures and incorporated into the fabric of consumption and profit making. The article proposes that these ossified moments of crystallized practice are only part of wider rhizomatic territories that remain open fields for urban engagement, inviting fluid urban identities and creative states of becoming. The article concludes by exploring the challenges and opportunities of conceptualizing urban social formations as rhizomes