VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Within the background of post-Fordism and deindustrialisation, the subject of creative city (CC) prevails worldwide, attracting culture/innovation-led industries and urban growth since the 1990s. Hitherto, numerous megacities take efficient advantages of creative city paradigm in urban development, particularly London, New York and Paris in Global North. Nevertheless, unlike the West, the emergence of the CC notions was not echoed in China during the 20th century. Lately, CC has been positively utilised in China. As a matter of fact, it is adapting under the term ‘Chinese characteristics’. Thus, the main research question in this paper is how to better comprehend CC in Chinese cities with ‘Chinese characteristics’. To unfold this question, there will firstly be an introduction and discussion of urbanisation and neoliberalisation in China. Second, it will focus on three smaller creative cities, rather than metropolis in China. Third, there will be critical remarks of CC’s Chinese characteristics. Finally, this paper attempts to draw attention on Chinese CC development with Chinese characteristics, and the knowledges and lessons for Global South countries.