The backstage of creative clusters in China. Tourism, commercial gentrification, surveillance and other issues of the planning and branding strategies of art districts

L’envers des clusters créatifs en Chine. Mise en tourisme, gentrification commerciale, surveillance et autres enjeux de la labellisation des quartiers d’artistes

Basile Michel ()
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Basile Michel: MRTE - Laboratoire Mobilités, Réseaux, Territoires, Environnements - UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise - Université Paris-Seine, ESO - Espaces et Sociétés - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UM - Le Mans Université - UA - Université d'Angers - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IGARUN - Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes, Institut conjoint des Universités de Ningbo et d’Angers - UA - Université d'Angers - ZWU - Zhejiang Wanli University

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Abstract: This article aims to highlight how "creative clusters" have been established in Chinese cities and the challenges they raise. Initially, these clusters are art districts resulting from a bottom-up organic growth with the spontaneous agglomeration of artists in former industrial areas in decline in the 1980s and 1990s. Their formal recognition and branding by local authorities in the early 2000s represents a turning point: these districts become the object of a top-down planning strategy using art and culture to develop tourism and real estate. In doing so, the districts and their surroundings are undergoing major changes: tourism development, commercial gentrification linked to the installation of commercial establishments at the expense of artists' studios, real estate development, etc. Based on numerous photographs, this article shows that these clusters are part of the movement of touristification, aestheticization and commodification of contemporary cities under the influence of "artist capitalism". This article also shows that Chinese creative clusters respond to the specific local context characterized by an authoritarian regime that limits dissident artistic expressions.

Keywords: tourism; gentrification; surveillance; artists; art galleries; China; Shanghai; Beijing; city; place branding; creative cluster; art district; cluster créatif; quartier artistique; tourisme; artistes; galeries d'art; ville; Pékin; Chine; labellisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03130435
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Published in Revue du marketing territorial, 2020, 5, http://publis-shs.univ-rouen.fr/rmt/index.php?id=570

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