The thesis relates the ‘creative economy' with the ‘sustainable human development', tracing a parallel between economic growth (e.g. GDP) and human development (e.g. HDI). The aspect of sustainability is addressed through the potential dematerialization of production and immaterialization of consumption, offering the ‘creative industries' as one of the candidates to convey both – together with services and ICTs. Communications technologies are shown, by the way, partially as the source of the communicational capital: sometimes implemented at universities and companies in a very human mode, but sometimes constituted as automata economicus – artificially intelligent machines able to create wealth in an independent and creative way. Also, the thesis approaches the Girona's creative economy, interested on how both the University of Girona and its Science and Technology Park may participate in such matter. The bond between the University and the creative economy is analyzed further by the case of the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and its departments – focusing its School of Communications and Arts. It is suggested that Girona, more than exclusively investing to get more creative industries, may also present itself as a managerial contractor to the creative sectors – eventually adopting the broader concept of the ‘experience economy' by the Scandinavian perspective. Finally, the thesis recalls for the centrality of persons to the economy, relativizing the power of economics and its impersonal paraphernalia.

The creative economy is one of the world’s most dynamic sectors. Drawing upon the author’s work on empowerment and sustainability, this book focuses on India's indigenous, rural, traditional handicraft-based creative and cultural industries (CCIs) and the role they can play in the country’s creative economy. The book combines a comprehensive assessment of the region's deeply rooted cultural and creative resources with practical cases of self-sufficient creative skills and knowledge-based entrepreneurship across the Indian handicrafts sector. The author illuminates how sustainability, resilience, and collective well-being, along with unique regional characteristics, are converging towards generating an independent creative and cultural economy that does not depend on global brands and businesses alone. The disconnect between associated policies, practice, and academic work is addressed by contextualizing the case studies in terms of modern economic theory and practice, relevant administrative policies of South Asia, and recognition of the role of culture in achieving the sustainable development goals. This concise yet comprehensive book provides an insightful and holistic understanding of India’s handicrafts economy which will be valuable reading for researchers and reflective practitioners.

The notion of 'creative cities' - where cultural activities and creative and cultural industries play a crucial role in supporting urban creativity and contributing to the new creative economy - has become central to most regional and urban development strategies in recent years. A creative city is supposed to develop imaginative and innovative solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental problems: economic stagnancy, urban shrinkage, social segregation, global competition or more. Cities and regions around the world are trying to develop, facilitate or promote concentrations of creative, innovative and/or knowledge-intensive industries in order to become more competitive. These places are seeking new strategies to combine economic development with quality of place that will increase economic productivity and encourage growth. Against this increasing interest in creative cities, this volume offers a coherent set of articles on sustainable and creative cities, and addresses modern theories and concepts relating to research on sustainability and creativity. It analyses principles and practices of the creative city for the formulation of policies and recommendations towards the sustainable city. It brings together leading academics with different approaches from different disciplines to provide a comprehensive and holistic overview of creativity and sustainability of the city, linking research and practice. In doing so, it puts forward ideas about stimulating the production of an innovative knowledge for a creative and sustainable city, and transforming a specific knowledge into a general common knowledge, which suggests best future policy actions, decision-making processes and choices for the change towards a human sustainable development of the city.

Culture and creativity have untapped potential to deliver social, economic, and spatial benefits for cities and communities. Cultural and creative industries are key drivers of the creative economy and represent important sources of employment, economic growth, and innovation, thus contributing to city competitiveness and sustainability. Through their contribution to urban regeneration and sustainable urban development, cultural and creative industries make cities more attractive places for people to live in and for economic activity to develop. Culture and creativity also contribute to social cohesion at the neighborhood level, enable creative networks to form and advance innovation and growth, and create opportunities for those who are often socially and economically excluded. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the cultural sector, yet it has also revealed the power of cultural and creative industries as a resource for city recovery and resilience. More generally, cities are hubs of the creative economy and have a critical role to play in harnessing the transformative potential of cultural and creative industries through policies and enabling environments at the local level. 'Cities, Culture, and Creativity' (CCC) provides guiding principles and a CCC Framework, developed by UNESCO and the World Bank, to support cities in unlocking the power of cultural and creative industries for sustainable urban development, city competitiveness, and social inclusion. Drawing from global studies and the experiences of nine diverse cities from across the world, the CCC Framework offers concrete guidance for the range of actors -- city, state, and national governments; creative industry and related private-sector organizations; creatives; culture professionals and civil society-- to harness culture and creativity with a view to boosting their local creative economies and building resilient, inclusive, and dynamic cities.

The special edition of the Report focuses on creative economy at the local level in developing countries. It is co-published by UNESCO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the UN Office for South South Co-operation. The Report is organized in two volumes: a policy report and a web-documentary that brings to life cases and trends, and opportunities and challenges of creative economy on the ground. The Report confirms the creative economy as one of the most rapidly growing sectors of the world economy and a highly transformative one in terms of income generation, job creation and export earnings. But this is not all there is to it. For unlocking the potential of the creative economy also means promoting the overall creativity of societies, affirming the distinctive identity of the places where it flourishes and clusters, improving the quality of life there, enhancing local image and prestige and strengthening the resources for the imagining of diverse new futures. The evidence provided demonstrates how the cultural and creative industries are at the core of local creative economies in the global South and how they forge "new development pathways that encourage creativity and innovation in the pursuit of inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth and development" that the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda exhorts the international community to take. The results of the Report will inform international debates on the post-2015 UN development agenda and the role of culture in sustainable development. It speaks to decision-makers, demonstrating some of the key factors that make creative economy initiatives successful on the ground.

This volume critiques the current model of the creative economy, and considers alternative models that may point to greener, cleaner, more sustainable and socially just cultural and creative industries. Aimed at the nexus of cultural and environmental concerns, the book assesses the ways in which arts and cultural activities can help develop ideas of the ‘good life’ beyond excessive and unsustainable material consumption, and explores the complex interactions between cultural prosperity, place and the quality (and availability) of employment, leisure and the rights to self-expression. Adopting a deliberately wide and inclusive interdisciplinary and international perspective, contributors to this volume showcase current and future ways of ‘doing’ creative economy, ecologically, otherwise and differently. In 11 chapters, the book outlines some of the most relevant arguments from among the growing literature that critically analyzes the current creative economy, with a focus on issues of gentrification, inequality and environment. This volume is timely, as it emerges into a political and economic context that is seeking desperately to ‘reboot’ the economy, re-establish ‘business as usual’ and to do so partly through significant investment and expansion in the creative economy. The book will be suitable for upper level undergraduates and postgraduates studying a wide range of topics, including: cultural and creative industries, media and communications, cultural studies, cultural policy, human geography, environmental humanities and environmental policy, and will be of further interest to arts professionals, creative economy researchers and policymakers. The chapter “Towards a New Paradigm of the Creative City or the Same Devil in Disguise? Culture-led Urban (Re)development and Sustainability” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book argues for a broader approach to sustainable growth in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Small island states such as those in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and South Pacific face significant and growing threats from climate change, increasing political and social volatility, and rapidly evolving global trends in technology and tourism. Based on ten years of research, this book looks beyond the Blue Economy of tourism and fisheries and provides a model of how creative industries, innovation networks, creative clusters and digital transformation can give SIDS the foundation for a strong sustainable future. The book provides not only insights into how these emerging digital-creative sectors can drive developing economies but also actionable tools for policy makers, entrepreneurs and academics to deliver increased performance on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and, ultimately, growth and sustainability. This book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of economic geography, sustainable development, development studies and the creative industries.