The Role Of Ccis In Regenerating Urban And Rural Space And Economies In Sa - Final

Overview

Creativity, knowledge and innovation have become increasingly important factors in driving regional economic, social and cultural development (Selada et al., 2011). Both in academic literature and in several national and international policy documents, creativity is considered to predominately be an urban phenomenon due to the fact that human, economic and institutional resources are generally concentrated in cities. The attraction and retention of talent, particularly Florida’s (2002) creative class, to small urban centres and rural areas can, however, be a solution to their economic revitalisation.

It should be noted that in South Africa there is a lack of standardisation regarding what constitutes the concept of ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ (Collinson et al., 2007). For the purpose of this report, the B1 to B4 classification system of local municipalities developed by the Palmer Development Group and adopted by the National Treasury in 2011 will be used (see Atkinson, 2014 for a discussion of this system). The following report seeks to answer the following questions: What role to cultural and creative industries (CCIs) play in regenerating rural and urban space economies in South Africa? Can creativity and other aspects of the creative and cultural industries become driving forces in the development of urban centres or even rural areas?

The research approach is based on a case study methodology centred on the analysis of four South African examples of creative urban and rural environments. These include two urban settings: Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape) and Cape Town (Western Cape) as well as two located in a rural setting: Hamburg and Nieu-Bethesda (both in the Eastern Cape). Several dimensions of analysis were then defined based on the existing theory, and then used to assess the respective case studies with the aim of identifying key lessons learnt.

The report begins by presenting a literature review of the theoretical underpinning of CCIs. This includes aspects such as the definitions of CCIs, cultural spillovers, networks and clusters. This review is intended to aid in the contextualisation of CCIs in rural and urban regeneration. Following from this is a description and comparison of the case studies based on the pre-defined analysis methodology. Finally, some conclusions are outlined emphasising the critical success factors in using CCIs to regenerate rural and urban space economies.

This investigation represents part of the on-going research conducted by the South African Cultural Observatory with the support of the National Department of Arts and Culture.