Andy in Donostia, Gipuzkoa

Andy gave a paper at the World Urban Development Congress INTA 34 held in Oct 25-26 in San Sebastián, the Basque Country, Spain (or as the Basque locals call it Donostia, Gipuzkoa). The conference took place at the Kursaal Palace, one of the architectural highlights of the Basque country (aside from Bilbao). His paper was on “The cultural economy, creative organisations and the city” and it contributed to debate about Workspace Urbanism. This paper takes up some of the themes that Andy has explored recently about the future of work, land use and energy use in the city as seen through the lens of the cultural economy. The paper challenged the normative view of future urban form under technological change (as exemplified by the knowledge economy, and in particular by the cultural and creative industries) based upon recent analysis of the emergent organisational characteristics and forms being adopted in this economic sector based around, project based enterprises and portfolio work, and the extensification of work practices. Andy argues that this is leading to new forms of ‘clustering’ unlike the simple compact city, or agglomeration, of popular urban discourse. The paper outlines these forms and the challenges for those governing future urban form, and future urban economies. A further development of this paper is being prepared for publication in the journal City, Culture and Society, a version of which will be presented in Osaka in December 2010.