Gerhard, U., Hoelscher, M. and Wilson, D. (eds.): Inequalities in Creative Cities: Issues, Approaches, 273Book Review – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (3) 265–276. Creativity has become a central issue in urban de- velopment since Richard Florida (2002) published his book entitled “The Rise of the Creative Class”. As knowledge and information have become more and more important in developed societies, policy- makers are increasingly focusing on investments in technology intensive industries and aim to attract and retain highly skilled labour. According to Florida, creativity is the main driving force of the contempo- rary urban economies, and the most important source of growth and competitiveness. Education, research, arts, cultural and creative industries are all parts of the creative industries which take the place of the traditional industries such as car manufacturing, textile industry etc. Florida claims that this changing economic landscape has led to the emergence of the so-called creative class – people whose work centres around creating new ideas, services or goods. For him, cities should attract these people, since they cre- ate, operate and attract innovative enterprises, thus, become facilitators of economic growth and urban restructuring. As Florida argues, the creative class seeks vibrant cultural scenes which are parts of the ‘creative milieu’. In order to become more competi- tive, cities have to focus on the creation of this milieu – through urban revitalisation programmes, organ- ising colourful events, provision of non-traditional office spaces, tax policies and new urban regulations in relation to transport and entrepreneurship. As a result, new visual urban frontiers and images are produced to constitute the brand of the creative city (Colomb, C. 2012). Florida’s book has become seminal for not only researchers, but policy makers as well; cities started to analyse their creative potential and centred their development measures and aims around creativity (Hague, E. 2016). Thus, the book served as a kind of ‘blueprint’ for urban development at the beginning of 21st century. Even international organisations adopt- ed the idea of the creative city. The European Union Green Paper entitled “Unlocking the potential of cul- tural and creative industries” portrays creativity as a basis of innovation and economic growth (European Commission 2010). However, as empirical analyses (Van Winden, W. et al. 2007) show, the effects of knowledge-based economies can be variegated in space – still, actions and investments in relation to the creative city often follow very similar patterns. The book entitled “Inequalities in Creative Cities: Issues, Approaches, Comparisons” focuses on the ambiguities of creative city agenda, which were criticised by several authors from various aspects. This volume offers a comparative analysis of the con- tradictions, presenting the connection between the urban policies focusing on creativity and inequalities within societies, thus, providing empirical insights for the previous critiques. There are several important literature antecedents of this edited volume which often served as starting points and theoretical bases for the authors. For ex- ample, the distinction, or the link, between creative, cultural and knowledge-based industries is not elabo- rated clearly in Florida’s work. Furthermore, ques- tions arise regarding the adaptability of creative city and creative class concepts outside of North America. Are these concepts applicable in other contexts as well? The different cultures within Europe and the lower level of labour mobility compared to North America create different environment, in which the hyper-mobility of creative workforce can hardly manifest itself (Van Winden, W. et al. 2007; Martin- Brelot, H. et al. 2010). The notion of the creative class has received several critiques as well. For example, the conceptualisation of class seems to be problemat- ic. The broad definition of creative class leaves doubts about its empirical applicability (Krätke, S. 2010). Gerhard, U., Hoelscher, M. and Wilson, D. (eds.): Inequalities in Creative Cities: Issues, Approaches, Comparisons. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 270 p. DOI: 10.15201/hungeobull.66.3.8 Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 2017 (3) 274 Book Review – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (3) 265–276. The members of this supposed class have different positions in society with different resources, interests, political values and attitudes (Markusen, A. 2006). Other critiques highlight that the creative city and creative class arguments centre around certain types of people – this is also highlighted by the con- tributors of “Inequalities in Creative Cities: Issues, Approaches, Comparisons”. As a result, urban poli- cies can produce enclaves for urban elites and cre- ate new forms of segregation and exclusion (Peck, J. 2005). These policies leave only a supporting role for the majority of society, assuming that in the end, crea- tivity-led strategies would be automatically beneficial for everyone – but this ‘rising tide raises all boats’ logic is not justified by the empirical findings (Leslie, D. and Catungal, J.P. 2012). Creative workers are of- ten criticised for pushing out the long-term residents from certain neighbourhoods and pioneering gen- trification (Vivant, E. 2013). The cases of Cleveland, Montpellier or Groningen presented in the volume support this assumption. Furthermore, the racial and gender aspects are often neglected in the creative city. It seems that the discourse is quite progressive, since the supposed new creative class is not determined by gender or race, and as Florida writes, everyone is creative in some way – thus, anyone can become a member of the creative class. In theory, diversity is highlighted as a crucial resource for cities – but as the case of Heidelberg in this reviewed volume shows, the creative class itself can be quite homogenous. This supports those claims made by earlier researches that beyond the diversity discourses, creative class dis- courses champion a certain type of person. Besides being creative and talented, they have to be fit, flex- ible, independent and adaptive. Furthermore, the discourses simplify and neglect inequalities which are based on gender, race or nationality (Parker, P. 2008), but as the case of Delhi presents in this book, patriarchal policy can still be strong in the creative city. Florida’s theory is linked to human capital theo- ries, therefore it assumes that the labour market is a neutral arbiter and operates objectively and fairly, what downplays the significance of structural ele- ments, power relations and other factors (Leslie, D. and Catungal, J.P. 2012). As the contributors of the reviewed book also dem- onstrate convincingly, the creative city discourse also has strong connections to neoliberalism. This kind of discourse focuses on individuals, and inequalities are often explained as individual failures, e.g. cities or people are in disadvantaged position because they are not creative enough. The idea of the creative class fits to the logic of neoliberal urban policies which fol- low entrepreneurial agendas, emphasise the impor- tance of competition, promote consumption and fa- vour less regulation and intervention from local and national governments (Leslie, D. and Catungal, J.P. 2012). To sum up the above, although it seems that being creative is the solution for urban development challenges, the concept and agenda of go-creative cit- ies are ambiguous and the downsides of such agen- das should be explored. As the editors state in the introduction, so far we have little knowledge on how the creative city agenda affects urban demographics, urban land-use and socio- economic processes. The book aims to overcome this gap by analysing various forms and sources of inequal- ities in creative cities. In addition, the authors assume that creative city policies may increase inequalities – and even create new forms of inequalities. Moreover, as their results show, the creativity argument is often used to legitimise social differences. Thus, the analysis of old and new forms of inequalities in cities where knowledge-based industries are in the centre of urban policy is a crucial task in order to have a deeper under- standing of contemporary urban societies. The main focus of the book is on ‘ordinary’ cities, which can be justified by two arguments. The first one is that these cities are often neglected in urban re- searches, which tend to focus on global cities and cap- ital cities. This is especially true for the creative city literature (Pratt, A. and Hutton, T. 2013). The other is that middle-sized university cities (e.g. Heidelberg) or cities going through economic restructuring after the decline of traditional industries (e.g. Cleveland) often find the creative city agenda very appealing when forming their development policies. Ordinary cities are in a particular position since they are inter- faces of various processes, structures, functions and spatial forms, thus, offering unique opportunities for analysis (as the city of Cachoeira does in this book). The volume consists of three major parts. The first part presents the theoretical background starting from the notion of creativity and the cultural econo- my to approaches to inequalities. The editors, Ulrike Gerhard, Michael Hoelscher and David Wilson, introduce the main topic and the rationale of the book. After the introductory chapter, Tom Hutton overviews the concepts of culture, creativity and the cultural economy as well as how their role has changed in the past decades. He distinguishes the most important analytical domains of urban cultural economies which are crucial issues for future analy- ses. He also presents the labour aspects of the cultural economy. Ferenc Gyuris presents the key approaches to and narratives of urban inequalities, emphasising the deeply political nature of such discourses. As he stresses, studies on inequality should include the political instead of employing naturalising attitudes. The second part elaborates the topic through em- pirical case studies from the Global North, focusing on different dimensions of inequalities. Gender, race, housing and class related inequalities are all presented in this part, and the questions that arise 275Book Review – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (3) 265–276. in relation to social justice and urban restructuring are also discussed. These case studies demonstrate the connection between earlier, neoliberal growth machine policies and contemporary creativity agen- das. By adopting these policies, cities are not passive receivers of globalised ideas, but as Justin Beaumont and Zemiattin Yildiz emphasise in Chapter 8 using the notion of policy topologies, they are contributors to them. Their approach is built on Actor-Network Theory and highlights the significance of human and non-human actors in the flow, creation and adop- tion of creative city agendas. Furthermore, all of the contributors of the volume underline that urban inequalities not only persist in the creative city, but they are systematically and constantly being re-made. Several chapters emphasise the importance of visions in the city. Urban design, architecture, vibrant public spaces have crucial role in establishing or enhancing the creative image. The tools of this image (re)creation vary from new tram lines to neighbourhood regenera- tion and public space redevelopment and regulation. The contradictory role of diversity or knowledge is also an important issue in many cities as Gerhard and Hoelscher demonstrate through the case of Heidelberg, Germany. Strategies often have a quite narrow understanding of knowledge and education, thus, equal opportunities mainly appear only in the narratives, but they are not manifest in practice. While the second part is focusing on ‘Western’ cit- ies, the third part aims to expand our knowledge by presenting case studies from Brazil and India. Wendel Henrique Baumgartner and Eberhard Rothfuss ana- lyse the interaction between urban and rural spaces in Cachoeira, Brazil. As they emphasise, urbanisation processes of the Global South are still ‘unfinished’, what results in the mixing of urbanity and rurality. As a result, these cities are getting integrated into the global flows on the one hand, while preserv- ing their connections to the local countryside on the other. Brazil, as one of the most unequal nations, is an ideal country for the implementation of creative city agendas, thus, interpreting inequalities as natural elements of society. In Chapter 10, Christiane Brosius presents the ambiguities related to the mobility and access to work and consumption possibilities of wom- en in Delhi, India. Because of economic development and the opening up of education possibilities, women have increasing chance to become members of the creative class. The representation of women in popu- lar culture is changing and new gender models are emerging (e.g. that of the single, independent wom- an), but there are tensions between traditional social expectations and the new roles. As the authors state in this chapter, Delhi as a world class city should fos- ter their inclusion and acceptance and should provide equal rights. Meanwhile, the fear and vulnerability of women are often neglected by decision makers, so the idea of an inclusive city cannot be implemented. The new spaces of Delhi reinforce patriarchal urban planning and politics. The volume is closed with a conclusion chapter, in which the editors highlight the most important messages of the book. They empha- sise the importance of narratives which are transna- tionally produced and circulated. The narratives of creativity centred strategies transform cities along neoliberal principles. Therefore, they have significant role in legitimising and creating a Gramscian ‘com- mon sense’, in which the aims and measures of urban development are indisputable. To sum up, the book is an extremely valuable con- tribution to the creative city discourse. It is a theoreti- cally informed and empirically grounded collection of papers with comparative focus. Hence, the vol- ume moves beyond a mere description of ambiguities about the creative city. As the editors emphasise in the conclusion, cities are connected through various flows (e.g. migration, the flow of commodities, ideas etc.), thus, they share common visions and ideas – let those be go-creative, sustainability or smart growth. The book demonstrates the role of different institu- tional and cultural settings as well as diverse trajecto- ries in the adaptation and implementation of creative city policies, and how these policies maintain and create various forms of inequality and exclusion. This collection of contributions bears a special sig- nificance for Eastern and Central European countries, where due to the economic restructuring process after the regime change make the new, ‘creative’ ideas of development appealing for decision-makers. These ideas are often seen as indispensable measures for rapid economic development and catching up. Despite critiques regarding the importance of the context and doubts about adoptability, many cities in the region focus their policies around the creative economy and the creative class. Therefore, the cases presented in the book offer valuable insights for decision-makers in post-socialist countries. The case of Cleveland or Glasgow can be useful for cities going through eco- nomic restructuring or decline, while the chapter fo- cusing on Delhi offers insights for capital cities which aim to enhance their international significance. The examples of Heidelberg and Oxford provide important experiences for medium-sized university towns, where creativity and knowledge constitute the most impor- tant source of development. As the most important message of the book suggests, inequalities can increase during creativity-led urban development, since inves- tors and policymakers privilege certain social groups and locations in the city. Hence, adopting this policy cannot solve quickly existing economic and social problems. Moreover, it can create new inequalities and tensions, and might even reinforce the existing ones. But the creative city narrative, although as power- ful as it is, is not determined to end up in the same de- 276 Book Review – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (3) 265–276. velopment path in every context. Whereas it has clear connections with neoliberalism, creativity can open up new, progressive and less elitist ways of urban development as well. According to Vivant, E. (2013) creativity should be considered as the ability to find alternative means in order to tackle precariousness in contemporary urban societies. Thus, the go-creative agenda offers not only challenges but possibilities as well. To take advantage of these possibilities, one should gain a better understanding of the contradic- tions of creative city politics – and this volume is an important step towards fulfilling this goal. Lajos Boros11 R E F E R E N C E S Colomb, C. 2012. Pushing the urban frontier: Temporary uses of space, city marketing, and the creative city discourse in 2000s Berlin. Journal of Urban Affairs 34. (2): 131–152. European Commission 2010. Green Paper: Unlocking the Potential of Cultural and Creative Industries. Brussels, European Commission. Florida, R. 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York, Basic Books. Hague, E. 2016. Creative cities. In The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. Eds.: Richardson, D., Castree, N., Goodchild, M.F., Kobayashi, A., Liu, W. and Marston, R.A., Chichester–Hoboken, Wiley, 1–2. Krätke, S. 2010. ‘Creative cities’ and the rise of the dealer class: A critique of Richard Florida’s ap- proach to urban theory. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 34. (4): 835–853. Leslie, D. and Catungal, J.P. 2012. Social justice and the creative city. Geography Compass 6. (3): 111–122. Markusen, A. 2006. Urban development and the politics of the creative class: Evidence from artists. Environment and Planning A 38. (10): 1921–1940. Martin-Brelot, H., Grossetti, M., Eckert, D., Gritsai, O. and Kovács, Z. 2010. The spatial mobil- ity of the ‘creative class’: A European perspective. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 34. (4): 854–870. McLean, H. 2014. Digging into the creative city: A feminist critique. Antipode 46. (3): 669–690. Parker, P. 2008. Beyond the class act: Gender and race in the ‘creative city’ discourse. In Gender in an Urban World. Ed.: DeSena, J. N., Bingley, Emerald Publishing, 201–232. Peck, J. 2005. Struggling with the creative class. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 29. (4): 740–770. Pratt, A. and Hutton, T. 2013. Reconceptualising the relationship between the creative economy and the city: Learning from the financial crisis. Cities 33. 86–95. Van Winden, W., van den Berg, L. and Pol, P. 2007. European cities in the knowledge economy: Towards a typology. Urban Studies 44. (3): 525–549. Vivant, E. 2013. Creatives in the city: Urban contradic- tions of the creative city. City, Culture and Society 4. (2): 57–63. 1 Department of Economic and Social Geography, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. E-mail: borosl@geo.u-szeged.hu