The making of sustainable cultural and creative clusters in Hong Kong

Abstract

In the post-industrial era, the cultural and creative cluster has become a major concern for policymakers and researchers. The establishment of creative space in the city is associated with wealth generation, job creation and urban revitalisation. Many governments recite this formula in setting up clusters, but a one-size-fits-all strategy cannot guarantee sustainable development for the cluster. This study identifies the fundamental factors in developing a sustainable cluster in a densely populated city, based on a review of key theoretical discussions of cultural and creative clusters. This study examines the concept of a cultural and creative cluster and its relation to creative practitioners in Hong Kong. The synchronic and diachronic development of cultural and creative clusters in Hong Kong is examined. This study endeavours to answer several questions. (a) What are the essential factors for sustainable cultural and creative clusters in Hong Kong? (b) How should we evaluate these essential factors in an empirical setting? (c) What are the influences of the correlated essential factors on the sustainable development of cultural and creative clusters? This study develops a model for the evaluation of the sustainable development of cultural and creative clusters. This model involves three key factors: cluster, community and creativity (the 3Cs model). The results revealed by the model show a strong correlation between these factors and the sustainable development of cultural and creative clusters. Factors related to cluster, community and creativity are investigated by direct observation and semi-structured interviews. Three significant empirical cases in Hong Kong (PMQ, Easy Pack Creative Precinct and Design Incubation Programme (DIP) at InnoCentre) are selected for detailed investigation. This study proposes that the sustainability of a cultural and creative cluster can be measured by four external measures: (1) dropout rate of tenants, (2) change in operation mode, (3) new forms of creative work or new collaborations between creative workers and (4) survival rate of tenants. The study's conclusion demonstrates the applicability of the 3Cs model for highly dense cities such as Hong Kong.