CREA2101 Creative Cities: Ecologies of Social Transformation

This topic is designed to analyse the case study of cultural ecology as it links the micro and the macro, the local and regional and the global, with the various concepts at work in the global flow of creative enterprise. Focusing on ecologies allows us to consider how the diverse parts of the cultural sphere are interdependent. It looks at precincts and festivals as engines of cultural development. It uses as case studies the debates over the building of an Adelaide contemporary arts centre on the old RAH site, the MONA and Dark Mofo effects, and regional festivals. It looks at cultural development and the wellbeing arguments for investment in arts and culture and the way these are deployed by local councils, state governments, nations, and at the international level through UNESCO and elsewhere. It looks at the failure of the Richard Florida arguments and considers what rises to replace them.

Students taking this topic will look at cultural development and creative enterprise through the lens of cities (large and small) and the cultural ecologies that exist within them and develop an understanding of some the key issues involved in creative cultural development plans.

1. Recognise the component parts of a creative ecology
2. Evaluate the arguments about cultural development for economic and social benefits
3. Apply concepts of creative cities discourse to a variety of local, regional, national and international contexts