On the Establishment of Creative Workers’ Clubs within Creative Quarters

This article is a contribution to the ongoing research and debate on cultural or creative quarters and their role in contemporary cities. It focuses on the organization and working methods of the creative workers based in these quarters, devoting particular attention to the networks they establish at micro level. By drawing upon existing economic and sociological research on clubs, the article aims to further our understanding of the spatial organization of cultural and creative industries. On the basis of qualitative studies conducted in two neighborhoods in the French cities of Nantes (Les Olivettes) and Marseille (Le Panier), the article argues that creative workers organize in the form of clubs rooted within creative quarters. These workers unite around specific goods and services, to which they control access via processes of selection and co-optation, creating exclusive groups of mutual assistance of which they are the members. These results hint at the potentially ambivalent impact of such agglomerations of cultural and creative industries in specific urban areas, where the dynamics of sharing and collaboration run the risk of descending into social exclusion and a clique mentality. These results also raise a potential theoretical contribution regarding the use of clubs in urban studies.