Course 2011-2012 a.y.

Course Objectives

Creativity is a multi-faceted concept, particularly complex as it regards both the actors and the organizations involved in production and consumption and the urban settings in which production and consumption occur. The course deals with creativity and innovation processes in cultural industries, creative cities' characteristics and policies, and creative professional communities operating, living and working in the urban setting.
The course aims at:

• integrating managerial and urban studies approaches dealing with the theme of urban creativity and creative communities. Both the perspectives are relevant and complementary to this topic. Some relevance is given also to a sociological approach to cultural scenes;
• acquiring a deeper and more aware knowledge of cultural production systems, understanding the connections between the creative production dynamics and the social, infrastructural, institutional, economic, technological, environmental and urban situations;
• providing the tools to analyze the urban setting, integrating the institutional, social, managerial and cultural spheres.

Course Content Summary

The course integrates managerial and urban studies' contents and approaches. It explores the traditional organizational framework on creativity, the Florida's perspective and the urban policies. Moreover it analyses cultural professional families working on the urban scene. Specific seminars on foreign creative cities and national and international guest speakers give the possibility to draw a parallel with Milan, while group works provide the experience of working on the cultural industries' scene in Milan.

The course is divided into three parts:

• Managerial Studies and Creativity;
• Urban Studies and Creativity & Country Seminars;
• Group Works on different creative industries/districts in Milan.

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

• Written exam on the course materials for attending students
• Project in teams on different creative districts/industries in Milan

Non Attending students

• Written/oral exam

Textbooks

• Collection of readings available at EGEA

Non attending students 

• Collection of readings available at EGEA
• R. FLORIDA, The rise of the creative class, NY, Basic Books, 2002
• A.J. SCOTT, Social Economy of the Metropolis, Oxford, 2008
• L. LEES, T. SLATER, E. WYLY, Gentrification, London, Routledge, 2008