Justin O’Connor and Lily Kong The cultural and creative industries have become increasingly prominent in many policy agendas in recent years. Not only have governments identified the growing consumer potential for cultural/creative industry products in the home market, they have also seen the creative industry agenda as central to the growth of external m- kets. This agenda stresses creativity, innovation, small business growth, and access to global markets – all central to a wider agenda of moving from cheap manufacture towards high value-added products and services. The increasing importance of cultural and creative industries in national and city policy agendas is evident in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Australia, and New Zealand, and in more nascent ways in cities such as Chongqing and Wuhan. Much of the thinking in these cities/ countries has derived from the European and North American policy landscape. Policy debate in Europe and North America has been marked by ambiguities and tensions around the connections between cultural and economic policy which the creative industry agenda posits. These become more marked because the key dr- ers of the creative economy are the larger metropolitan areas, so that cultural and economic policy also then intersect with urban planning, policy and governance.
The cultural and creative industries have become increasingly prominent on many policy agendas in recent years. Governments have identified the growing consumer potential for cultural/creative industry products in the home market, as well as for the growth of exports. The emphasis now lies on creativity, innovation, small business growth, and access to global markets – all in line with the move from cheap manufacture towards high value-added products and services. At the same time, the cultural and creative industries have become key drivers for urban regeneration and global repositioning of cities across Europe and Asia. Some of the themes, such as capital of culture, and attracting a ‘creative class’, have become global preoccupations. However, there are very real differences and ambiguities at play when such policy discourses move between historically distinct regions. By offering both Asian and European experiences, this volume shows the differences between them, and thus allows meaningful comparisons.
