‘A place without living standards’ - Defining creativity amongst ‘talents’ and ‘creatives’ in Gothenburg, Sweden.

• Building on previous research concerning the location preferences of human capital (Niedomysl and Hansen, 2010; Borggren & Eriksson 2014) talents (Hansen & Winther, 2010), milieu (Buttimer, 1969; Drake, 2003) and the ‘creative class’ (Florida 2002), this paper studies creative milieu from the perspective of individuals engaged in different creative occupations in Gothenburg, Sweden. Drawing on the background of structural economic change, the key competitive asset of attracting skilled workers and place-marketing to promote regional development, the aim of this study is to ‘take a step back’ and let representatives of these individuals first define a creative milieu, and second to investigate, in retrospect, whether this creative milieu has exercised any significant influence on residence and location choices by way of in-depth interviews. Results show that the creative milieu as described by the respondents constitutes a space containing human interaction, the possibility to think freely and having the option of choosing to participate in various activities. It is suggested that further understandings of creative milieu would be based on the social context, or more precisely the social space (Buttimer, 1969), of the observer and of how said person ‘justifies’ creative milieu from a professional standpoint, i.e. from the perspective of one’s occupation.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Gothenburg

Creative Milieu

Talents

Interviews

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)