Creativity and Space

Originally published in 2005. By examining the changing patterns of the German advertising industry from a spatial-economic perspective, focusing on the rise of Hamburg as the country's new creative capital, this book discusses the shifting relations between economic organization, social relations and spatial structures in the post-industrial economy. It argues that it is the professional labour market which drives the organization and the spatial structure of knowledge-intensive activities. It does not, however, only imply the increasing importance of labour as a factor of production, but also suggests an increasing uncertainty linked to the nature of knowledge - labour. Illustrated by in-depth empirical material, the book brings together debates on reflexive modernization and individualization with those on embeddedness and on the role of business services in regional development. It concludes that it is the labour market of professionals which provides a regional and social anchoring of economic activities, while at the same time pointing out the increasing importance of metropolitan regions.

Joachim Thiel is Senior Research Associate in the Department of Urban and Regional Economics at Hamburg University of Technology, Germany.

Contents: Introduction: The issue: creativity and contexts; The arguments: labour markets and space; The structure of the book. The Economic, the Social and the Spatial: Framing the Post-Industrial Economy: 'The Economy on its Way Back...' - recontextualizing economic action; Economic organization, social relations and spatial structures: three examples; Recontextualization through the individual: reflexivity and the convergence of work and life; Labour markets as 'Arenas' of a conflicting convergence; The economic, the social and the spatial: towards a subject-oriented understanding of recontextualization. The General Perspective: Changing Advertising and the West German Space-Economy: Advertising and the lack of an analytical economic approach; Advertising as an economic activity - a brief overview; German advertising and the German space-economy; Innovation in advertising as 'Window of Locational Opportunity': a first interpretation of the German 'Second Wave'. The Firm Perspective: Reading the Restructuring of German Advertising as an Innovation Process: Agencies as drivers of change: entrepreneurship and organization; The substance of innovation: exploring the Springer & Jacoby Story; The impact of innovation: continuity and change in the German agency landscape; Advertising between business service and popular art: a second interpretation. The Labour Perspective: The Creative Professional in the Restructuring of Advertising: The creative professional between idiosyncrasies and adaptation; Creative labour in the innovation process: access and adaptation; Life in the creative labour market: mobility and personalized relations; Innovation as 'Factor Creation' and 'Factor Attraction' and the functioning of a professional milieu: a third interpretation. Space and the Ambivalence of Reflexive Labour: Reflexive labour and space: importance and uncertainty; Reflexive labour between the economic, the social and the spatial; Final remarks and critical reflections; B