TY - JOUR
T1 - The significance of creative industry policy narratives for Zurich's transformation toward a post-industrial city.
AU - Dörry, Sabine
AU - Rosol, Marit
AU - Thissen, Fee
PY - 2016/10
Y1 - 2016/10
N2 - During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a post-industrial economic base and a diversification of its existing service sector. The latter relates to Zurich's idiosyncrasies that, besides its long industrial tradition, it already disposed of a strong service sector, i.e., the financial services since the 19th century. Since the repeated financial crises in the 1990s and 2000s, however, the city pursued a two-fold strategy. It sought to lessen its over-dependence on dominating private banking, whilst attempting to strengthen this sector's global competitiveness by attracting talent. This article shows how the creative industries served as a key instrument for both strategies and critically investigates the narrative created to legitimise and underpin a new economic growth agenda with concomitant new urban policies of neo-liberal design. Important socio-spatial consequences of these new urban policies are discussed in the example of the transformation of one of Zurich's former industrial districts, Escher Wyss, today known as Zurich-West. Empirically, this article draws on a detailed content analysis of policy and marketing documents between 2005 and 2010, which reveal the legitimisation process of the making of the new trend-quarter, Zurich-West. Additional qualitative interviews with the new creatives in this quarter illustrate the catalysing of the urban redesign.
AB - During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a post-industrial economic base and a diversification of its existing service sector. The latter relates to Zurich's idiosyncrasies that, besides its long industrial tradition, it already disposed of a strong service sector, i.e., the financial services since the 19th century. Since the repeated financial crises in the 1990s and 2000s, however, the city pursued a two-fold strategy. It sought to lessen its over-dependence on dominating private banking, whilst attempting to strengthen this sector's global competitiveness by attracting talent. This article shows how the creative industries served as a key instrument for both strategies and critically investigates the narrative created to legitimise and underpin a new economic growth agenda with concomitant new urban policies of neo-liberal design. Important socio-spatial consequences of these new urban policies are discussed in the example of the transformation of one of Zurich's former industrial districts, Escher Wyss, today known as Zurich-West. Empirically, this article draws on a detailed content analysis of policy and marketing documents between 2005 and 2010, which reveal the legitimisation process of the making of the new trend-quarter, Zurich-West. Additional qualitative interviews with the new creatives in this quarter illustrate the catalysing of the urban redesign.
KW - Zurich-West
KW - city marketing
KW - creative industries
KW - policy narrative
KW - urban policy
KW - urban redevelopment
U2 - 10.1016/j.cities.2016.05.022
DO - 10.1016/j.cities.2016.05.022
M3 - Article
SN - 0264-2751
VL - 58
SP - 137
EP - 142
JO - Cities
JF - Cities
ER -