Work on urban renewal internationally focuses on a vast range of topics, including gentrification, increased criminalization of poverty, rent-seeking behaviour, and neoliberal urbanism. These arguments tend to centre the interests and actions of certain actors, prioritize certain forces (such as economic ones), and thus tend to predict a particular set of outcomes. In adopting a southern urbanist epistemology, and Jennifer Robinson’s reimagined comparativism through a reconceptualized 'case’, this research shows how predominant assumptions regarding the drivers and outcomes (both social and physical) of urban renewal do not necessarily apply in the case of Braamfontein, an instance of urban renewal in Johannesburg, a post-apartheid city in the south. The findings examined here include policy narratives and empirical referents to culture-led strategies of urban renewal and ways in which they speak less to market-orientated objectives, and more to socio-political ones; how the findings in Braamfontein speak to literature on gentrification, studentification, and youthification, showing that urban renewal and gentrification are not the same processes, and that studentification does not necessarily lead to youthification or gentrification; how attempts to suppress informal trade have led to the proliferation of iterant strategies on the part of hawkers, and have in turn led to enhanced relationships between informal traders and the formal economy; and, finally, how the presence of communities self-identifying as foreign or gay are shown to be driven by forces other than those that the literature typically predicts.

As a result of the 2008-2010 economic crisis as well as continuing efforts to redevelop and revitalize local economies, public administrators across America are challenged with the task of developing methods to sustain their economies. According to Florida (2002) economic growth today is contingent upon a locality’s ability to attract a certain group of people, particularly those of the “creative class”. Furthermore, Florida et al., (2006), assert that universities are key contributors to regional development in their ability to attract creative class individuals into a community. Contrary to the assertion that the creative class is a prerequisite for economic growth, researchers argue that additional economic development theories should be examined in comparison to the creative class theory. This study examines the creative class, human capital, social capital, and the institutional intellectual capital theories to determine which is the best predictor for economic growth in nonmetropolitan areas. This study also presents an additional theoretical framework, the community capital approach to provide a multi-dimensional examination of the quality of life and demographic factors that can aid local public administrators in understanding what impacts the economic growth and development of communities. To assess this relationship, a multivariate regression analysis; specifically ordinary least squares regression is used to determine the strength of factors that influence the measurements of economic development. The findings for the creative class theory provide marginal support for the assertion that the presence of the creative class leads to more economic growth. There is also marginal support for the human capital, social capital, and the institutional intellectual capital theories as predictors of economic growth in nonmetropolitan areas. This research suggests that there are two paths that can be pursued by local public administrators to improve their economies. First, local public administrators with access to higher education institutions should focus their efforts on educating their workforce. Secondly, local public administrators from communities not equipped with higher education institutions should direct their strategies towards the community capital approach by creating more green space for parks and trails since these factors can be easily enhanced.

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Clusters are concentrations of companies that reached a critical mass and that produce together all elements of the value chain. This research will look at the Design Services Industry and its clusters. The forming of clusters will be illustrated by examples from The Netherlands and Taiwan. To structure the research an adapted model of the Porter’s diamond is used to analyze the two countries. Porter’s diamond discusses the microeconomic foundations of competition that influence and stimulate the forming of clusters. The four major components of the model are factor conditions, demand conditions, supporting and related industries and strategy, structure and rivalry. These components can be influenced by governments and chance. The adaptations to the model consist first of making the components of virtual clusters more explicit by mentioning elements that can be leveraged by information technology And second by adding attention to the attraction and retaining of talent. The Design services industry has a special need of talent which some also call the creative class. The analysis identified several differences between the two researched countries. These differences can be seen as opportunities for improvement by the design service industries in both countries. Keywords: Design, Cluster, Factor conditions, Demand conditions, Supporting and related industries, Strategy, Structure, Rivalry, Government, Chance, Information Technology, Talent, Creative class.

本研究以觀察台北兩所發展較成熟的街區：中山雙連街區與師大路街區。希望透過了解街區吸引創意階級的地理因素條件，和深入探訪聚集在街區中的創意階級，紀錄其生活與工作型態的轉變，解析街區中吸引創意階級的因素和群聚的效果。並且觀察中介團體(非營利組織)與政府在介入街區經營的活動後，創意階級之間的弱連結人際交流的變化與影響，並且為未來街區的經營找到適當的模式和作法。 亞里斯多德曾說過，「人們是因為不得已來到城市，但是是因為喜歡它才留下來。」創意街區是台北城市文化創意產業生態的重要環節，一方面它可以發揮產業群聚的經濟效益，另一方面可以讓創意產業的鑲嵌在地理環境中，形成無法取代的產業特色，並拉近與民眾和生活的距離。創意群聚的經營重要的是掌握地理要素，由區域自發形成的共識與力量，著手調整城市文化與經濟策略及實質運作，始能創造一個地方新的生活與經濟型態與新的競爭力。

In this study we made an investigation on the transformation of economic structure of two border city regions, Saarbrücken and Copenhagen. The motivation for a comparative analysis is that they have similar industrial background. Both city regions were dynamic in the first half of the 20th century however in the second half they slowed down and gradually lost some of their industrial base. This decline of industry also brought some transformation of the economic structure. To some extent they followed similar trends such as decline of industry and rise of service sector. However there are differences as well, like the diversification of economy, dependence on industry, potential for attracting the creative class and so on. Another reason for comparison is that they are both border regions and have a potential to integrate with the other side of the border. Saarbrücken has increased its interaction with the French region Lorraine and the opening of the High Speed Railway East to Paris is likely to contribute to this interaction and may lead to integration. Copenhagen, too, has been increasing its interaction with Malmo and Lund on the Swedish side. Especially after the opening of the Öresund Bridge in 2000 this interaction even got accelerated and seems to evolve towards integration. We have discussed this cross-border interaction and tried to identify to what extend these regions integrated with the other side of the border. Furthermore we tried to reveal the similarities and the differences in this integration processes in both border regions. As theoretical approach we have chosen Kondratieff Wave Theory, Porter’s Cluster Theory and Florida’s Creative Class Theory as these theories seem to explain the developments in the two regions quite well. The Wave theory makes up the theoretical framework as it reflects a global shift in the western economies especially in the old industrial zones. The two other theories points out to more specific developments in two regions such as emergence of high tech sectors as a result of creative class. Our overall conclusion is that the two regions have similarities in their transformation but also differences. Every region has its own transformation story as some local elements are involved in the process. It is not possible to have identical developments; however regions can induce similar development with the more dynamic regions in case they create similar conditions for new sectors. And it is increasingly easier to do so as the globalisation makes the production factors more mobile. / Jan-Philipp Exner Hauptstrasse 84 66127 Saarbrücken-Klarenthal Fon: +49 6898 32459 Mail: jan-exner@web.de -------------------------------------- ERGIN YUCEL +46735623450 www.eyucel.com

Creative economies can establish sustainable development through co-creative cultural projects. Project management practice and particularly project governance can balance creativity and control fostering the co-creative environment that inspires and ignites innovation. The success of those cultural projects is the platform that leads to long-term development and growth.   This thesis work aims to answer the following research question, “How will project governance structure provide the environment for the co-creation approach to flourish and enhance project performance?” The objective of this research is to examine how the project governance structure creates a conducive environment for the co-creation approach to burgeon and boost project performance.   The authors investigate the subject by building a theoretical frame of reference, formulating a proposition and designing the research strategy in order to answer the research question. This research applies the qualitative method through semi-structured interviews based on a case study on Umeå 2014 as the ECoC. Thirteen respondents participated in this research, all of whom are members of the Umeå 2014 Project Team. As secondary data, six interviews with Umeå 2014 project owners were investigated and analysed in order to support and increase the reliability of the research findings from the primary data analysis. All primary and secondary data were analysed based on the theoretical framework.   The research revealed that project governance nurtures the environment necessary for co-creation to flourish. The co-creation approach will flourish when developed within the mixture of hierarchical and relational project governance structures that foster co-creative elements. The synergy between co-creation and project governance will boost the potential to achieve sustainable development and long-term growth.

This master’s thesis examines how the density of food-based businesses in New England’s post-industrial urban neighborhoods relates to neighborhood demographic characteristics. The relationship between food-based businesses and demographic change has been examined in larger metropolitan areas like New York City and Chicago and has found that younger, wealthier, and more highly educated residents tend to live where there are greater densities of food businesses. However, there has been little research on the topic in New England’s post-industrial cities that have historically struggled to attract highly sought knowledge workers. I find that food business density and the share of residents employed in creative class professions is positively correlated in most cases; however, over time, the share of creative class workers and food businesses per capita has a negative relationship. Additionally, the share of residents living below the poverty line and food business densities have a significant and positive relationship. Neighborhood racial composition is a less significant factor, overall. In sum, the findings from this study suggest that food business density and creative class populations have a more nuanced relationship in regional post-industrial cities compared to larger metropolitan areas.

With the emergence of the competitive rationality in regional politics, the content of which is characterized by new regionalism, the Swedish regions are strongly associated with the mandate to assist the government in economic growth policy. The political content is adapted to enable regions to compete in markets and drive growth processes as successfully as possible. This is what previous research has largely focused on. This means that regional perspectives rarely reflect research in relation to different growth themes, although regions are complex and ambiguous phenomena. At the same time, the stipulative governance of the regions is rarely studied in national-regional research contexts. Therefore, I have chosen to review regional attractiveness that represents the regional location in attractive growth contexts. At the same time, my ambition is to introduce attractiveness in the decision-making context, that is how attractiveness emerges from the national growth policy. The purpose of the study is to analyze the political power. As a theoretical delimitation, I use Richard Florida's theory of the creative class. The starting point is to theoretically develop a reasoning about how attractiveness within regions can be understood by the important actors whose participation is absolutely crucial for the regions' development work according to the organization of the political mandate. My analysis shows how the obvious framing of the competitive rationality in national politics formulates how the regions develop attractiveness within the regional locations. The overall goal of the analyzed regions is to be attractive in a way that attracts growth and creates the conditions for players to be able to establish themselves within the site. In the same context, regions beyond growth policy are secondary to my analysis and attractiveness seems to rather help to reinforce inequalities between regional places. In this perspective, other and conflicting regional perspectives should be highlighted and discussed.