IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v49y2012i8p1811-1835.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Arts and Local Economic Development: Can a Strong Arts Presence Uplift Local Economies? A Study of 135 Canadian Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Mario Polèse

Abstract

The paper looks at arts-related employment in 135 Canadian urban areas over 35 years (1971–2006), successively examining location patterns, co-location with knowledge-rich industries and impacts on employment growth. Arts-related employment is found to be highly concentrated in the very largest urban centres, with no indication of change. Smaller places with particular attributes (attractive natural setting, proximity to large urban centres) are increasingly successful in attracting arts-related activities, but this is not necessarily associated with stronger employment growth or the development of knowledge-rich industries. Evidence of co-location with knowledge-rich industries is weak, but stronger for larger cities. No consistently significant relationship exists with employment growth. This holds true for all cities, irrespective of size. If a synergy exists between the arts and local development, the paper concludes, it is limited to specific industries and only operates in the context of large cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario Polèse, 2012. "The Arts and Local Economic Development: Can a Strong Arts Presence Uplift Local Economies? A Study of 135 Canadian Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(8), pages 1811-1835, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:8:p:1811-1835
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098011422574
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098011422574
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098011422574?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    2. Jordan Rappaport, 2009. "The increasing importance of quality of life -super-†," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(6), pages 779-804, November.
    3. David Mcgranahan & Timothy Wojan, 2007. "Recasting the Creative Class to Examine Growth Processes in Rural and Urban Counties," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 197-216.
    4. Bjørn Asheim & Høgni Kalsø Hansen, 2009. "Knowledge Bases, Talents, and Contexts: On the Usefulness of the Creative Class Approach in Sweden," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(4), pages 425-442, October.
    5. Mario Polèse & Richard Shearmur, 2006. "Growth and Location of Economic Activity: The Spatial Dynamics of Industries in Canada 1971–2001," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 362-395, September.
    6. Margaret Olfert & Mark Partridge, 2011. "Creating the Cultural Community: Ethnic Diversity vs. Agglomeration," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 25-55.
    7. Richard Florida, 2002. "Bohemia and economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 55-71, January.
    8. Ron A. Boschma & Michael Fritsch, 2009. "Creative Class and Regional Growth: Empirical Evidence from Seven European Countries," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(4), pages 391-423, October.
    9. Coish, David, 2004. "Census Metropolitan Areas As Culture Clusters," Trends and Conditions in Census Metropolitan Areas 2004004e, Statistics Canada, Social Analysis Division.
    10. Jason Potts, 2009. "Why creative industries matter to economic evolution," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(7), pages 663-673.
    11. José Alberto S Aranha & Julia Zardo, 2009. "Creativity: people, environment and culture, the key elements in its understanding and interpretation," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(7), pages 523-535, August.
    12. Steven Miles & Ronan Paddison, 2005. "Introduction: The Rise and Rise of Culture-led Urban Regeneration," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(5-6), pages 833-839, May.
    13. Glaeser, E., 2005. "Edward L. Glaeser, Review of Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 593-596, September.
    14. Phillips, Ronnie J., 2011. "Arts Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: Can Every City be "Austintatious"?," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 6(4), pages 239-313, January.
    15. Nathan, Max, 2007. "The Wrong Stuff? Creative Class Theory and Economic Performance in UK Cities," MPRA Paper 29486, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. David A. McGranahan & Timothy R. Wojan & Dayton M. Lambert, 2011. "The rural growth trifecta: outdoor amenities, creative class and entrepreneurial context -super-§," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 529-557, May.
    17. Bjørn Asheim & Høgni Kalsø Hansen, 2009. "Knowledge Bases, Talents, and Contexts: On the Usefulness of the Creative Class Approach in Sweden," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(4), pages 425-442, October.
    18. Michael Storper & Allen J. Scott, 2009. "Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 147-167, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aurélie LALANNE & Guillaume POUYANNE, 2012. "Ten years of metropolization in economics: a bibliometric approach (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2012-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    2. David A. McGranahan & Timothy R. Wojan & Dayton M. Lambert, 2011. "The rural growth trifecta: outdoor amenities, creative class and entrepreneurial context -super-§," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 529-557, May.
    3. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2013. "Regional Development and Creativity," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 36(3), pages 354-391, July.
    4. Kai Zhao & Yuesheng Zhang & Jinkai Zhao & Xiaojing Li, 2020. "Understanding Contributions of the Creative Class to Sustainable Economic Growth in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    5. Wentao Yu & Xiaolan Tan, 2022. "The creative class in China: Heterogeneity and its regional determinants," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3466-3478, December.
    6. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2011. "Education or just Creativity: what matters most for economic performance?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p199, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Wentao Yu & Jin Hong & Yanrui Wu & Dingtao Zhao, 2013. "Emerging Geography of Creativity and Labor Productivity Effects in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 21(5), pages 78-99, September.
    8. Kai Zhao & Yuesheng Zhang & Jinkai Zhao, 2020. "Exploring the Complexity of Location Choices of the Creative Class in Europe: Evidence from the EU Labor Force Survey 1995–2010," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-22, February.
    9. Vitálišová Katarína & Vaňová Anna & Šúrová Janka, 2020. "How to Attract and Retain Creative Class," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 245-266, June.
    10. Alina Maria Pavelea & Bogdana Neamțu & Peter Nijkamp & Karima Kourtit, 2021. "Is the Creative Class a Game Changer in Cities? A Socioeconomic Study on Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    11. Möller Joachim & Tubadji Annie, 2009. "The Creative Class, Bohemians and Local Labor Market Performance: A Micro-data Panel Study for Germany 1975–2004," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(2-3), pages 270-291, April.
    12. Ann Marie Fiore & Linda S. Niehm & Jessica L. Hurst & Jihyeong Son & Amrut Sadachar & Daniel W. Russell & David Swenson & Christopher Seeger, 2015. "Will They Stay or Will They Go? Community Features Important in Migration Decisions of Recent University Graduates," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(1), pages 23-37, February.
    13. Cattivelli, Valentina & Stawinoga, Agnieszka, 2019. "A revised application of 3Ts´ Florida in peri-urban areas," MPRA Paper 99221, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Margarida Rodrigues & Cidália Oliveira & MárioFranco & Ana Daniel, 2024. "A Bibliometric Study About the Rural Creative Class: Proposal of a Conceptual Framework and Future Agenda," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 15278-15303, September.
    15. Michael Fritsch & Michael Stützer, 2012. "The Geography of Creative People in Germany revisited," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-065, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    16. Neil Lee, 2014. "The Creative Industries and Urban Economic Growth in the UK," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(2), pages 455-470, February.
    17. Mark D. Partridge & M. Rose Olfert, 2011. "The Winners' Choice: Sustainable Economic Strategies for Successful 21st-Century Regions," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(2), pages 143-178.
    18. David B. Audretsch & Nikolaus Seitz & Katherine Margaret Rouch, 2018. "Tolerance and innovation: the role of institutional and social trust," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 71-92, March.
    19. Amnon Frenkel & Sigal Kaplan, 2015. "The joint choice of tenure, dwelling type, size and location: the effect of home-oriented versus culture-oriented lifestyle," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 233-251, November.
    20. Brunow, Stephan & Birkeneder, Antonia & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2018. "Creative and science-oriented employees and firm-level innovation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87588, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:8:p:1811-1835. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.