The Geography Of Creativity

What is creativity and who exactly is creative? In this insightful and highly readable book, Gunnar Tornqvist attempts to answer these questions by arguing that geographical millieux are hotbeds for creativity and renewal - places where pioneers in art, technology and science have gathered and developed their special abilities. In light of ongoing social and economic transformations, special attention is paid to the institutional settings in firms and universities. The goal is to identify those features which facilitate and those which impede the creative process. Individual lives are illustrated through the autobiographies of hundreds of Nobel Laureates. Their life paths reveal the importance of geographic mobility and contact patterns for the development of creativity and international prestige. From these biographies we can also see how local millieux and schools have influenced many scientists. The Geography of Creativity will be of great benefit to academics and students in regional science, economic geography and economics.

'Gunnar Törnqvist, one of the world's most distinguished economic geographers, can fairly claim to have discovered the notion of the geography of creativity over thirty years ago. This remarkable book summarises his immensely original and important research on the subject, which now dominates the geographical literature. It is the book that the world has been waiting for him to publish.' Sir Peter Hall, University College London, UK 'This book offers a comprehensive perspective on the salience of context in fostering or hindering creativity. After several decades of research and teaching, Gunnar Törnqvist has become a foremost authority on the subject. Here, his elegant conceptual overview is complemented by a methodologically-innovative scrutiny of career journeys, including those of Nobel Prize laureates. The Geography of Creativity will be warmly welcomed by not only cultural geographers, but also by scholars in various fields of social science and humanities.' Anne Buttimer, University College Dublin, Ireland What is creativity and who exactly is creative? In this insightful and highly readable book, Gunnar Tornqvist attempts to answer these questions by arguing that geographical millieux are hotbeds for creativity and renewal places where pioneers in art, technology and science have gathered and developed their special abilities. In light of ongoing social and economic transformations, special attention is paid to the institutional settings in firms and universities. The goal is to identify those features which facilitate and those which impede the creative process. Individual lives are illustrated through the autobiographies of hundreds of Nobel Laureates. Their life paths reveal the importance of geographic mobility and contact patterns for the development of creativity and international prestige. From these biographies we can also see how local millieux and schools have influenced many scientists. The Geography of Creativity will be of great benefit to academics and students in regional science, economic geography and economics.

How can the ‘where’ of creativity help us examine how and why it has become a paradigmatic concept in contemporary economies and societies? Adopting a geographically diverse, theoretically rigorous approach, the Handbook offers a cutting-edge study of creativity as it has emerged in policy, academic, activist, and cultural discourse over the last two decades. To this end, the volume departs from conventional modes of analyzing creativity (by industry, region, or sector) and instead identifies key themes that thread through shifting contexts of the creative in the arts, media, technology, education, governance, and development. By tracing the myriad spatialities of creativity, the chapters map its inherently paradoxical features: reinforcing persistent conditions of inequality even as it opens avenues for imagining and enacting more equitable futures.

Tag along on this New York Times bestselling “witty, entertaining romp” (The New York Times Book Review) as Eric Winer travels the world, from Athens to Silicon Valley—and back through history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times. In this “intellectual odyssey, traveler’s diary, and comic novel all rolled into one” (Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness), acclaimed travel writer Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. A “superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, and self-deprecating” (The Washington Post), he explores the history of places like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. With his trademark insightful humor, this “big-hearted humanist” (The Wall Street Journal) walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, “What was in the air, and can we bottle it?” “Fun and thought provoking” (Miami Herald), The Geography of Genius reevaluates the importance of culture in nurturing creativity and “offers a practical map for how we can all become a bit more inventive” (Adam Grant, author of Originals).

Creativity, whether lauded as the oil of the 21st century, touted as a driver of international policy, or mobilised by activities, has been very much part of the zeitgeist of the last few decades. Offering the first accessible, but conceptually sophisticated account of the critical geographies of creativity, this title provides an entry point to the diverse ways in which creativity is conceptualized as a practice, promise, force, concept and rhetoric. It proffers these critical geographies as the means to engage with the relations and tensions between a range of forms of arts and cultural production, the cultural economy and vernacular, mundane and everyday creative practices. Exploring a series of sites, Creativity examines theoretical and conceptual questions around the social, economic, cultural, political and pedagogic imperatives of the geographies of creativity, using these geographies as a lens to cohere broader interdisciplinary debates. Central concepts, cutting-edge research and methodological debates are made accessible with the use of inset boxes that present key ideas, case studies and research. The text draws together interdisciplinary perspectives on creativity, enabling scholars and students within and without Geography to understand and engage with the critical geographies of creativity, their breadth and potential. The volume will prove essential reading for undergraduate and post-graduate students of creativity, cultural geography, the creative economy, cultural industries and heritage.

This book brings together cutting-edge research from leading international scholars to explore the geographies of making and craft. It traces the geographies of making practices from the body, to the workshop and studio, to the wider socio-cultural, economic, political, institutional and historical contexts. In doing so it considers how these geographies of making are in and of themselves part of the making of geographies. As such, contributions examine how making bodies and their intersections with matter come to shape subjects, create communities, evolve knowledge and make worlds. This book offers a forum to consider future directions for the field of geographies of making, craft and creativity. It will be of great interest to creative and cultural geographers, as well as those studying the arts, culture and sociology.

Creativity is said to be the fuel of the contemporary economy. Dynamic industries such as film, music, television and design have changed the fortunes of entire cities, from Nashville to Los Angeles, Barcelona to Brisbane and beyond. Yet creativity remains mercurial – it is at the heart of industrial innovation and can attract investment, but it is also an intangible, personal quality and experience. What exactly constitutes creativity? Drawing on examples as diverse as postcard design, classical music, landscape art, tattooing, Aboriginal hip-hop, and rock sculpture, this book seeks to explore and redefine creativity as both economic and cultural phenomenon. Creativity also has a peculiar geography. Beyond Hollywood, creativity is evident in suburban, rural and remote places – a quotidian, vernacular, eclectic enterprise. In seeking to redefine the creative industries, this book brings together geographers, historians, sociologists, cultural studies scholars and media/communications experts to explore creativity in diverse places outside major cities. These are places that are physically and/or metaphorically remote, are small in population terms, or which because of old industrial legacies are assumed by others to be unsophisticated or marginal in an imaginary geography of creativity. This book reveals the richness and depth, the challenges and surprises of being creative beyond city limits. This book was originally published as a special issue of Australian Geographer.

Creativity is said to be the fuel of the contemporary economy. Dynamic industries such as film, music, television and design have changed the fortunes of entire cities, from Nashville to Los Angeles, Barcelona to Brisbane and beyond. Yet creativity remains mercurial – it is at the heart of industrial innovation and can attract investment, but it is also an intangible, personal quality and experience. What exactly constitutes creativity? Drawing on examples as diverse as postcard design, classical music, landscape art, tattooing, Aboriginal hip-hop, and rock sculpture, this book seeks to explore and redefine creativity as both economic and cultural phenomenon. Creativity also has a peculiar geography. Beyond Hollywood, creativity is evident in suburban, rural and remote places – a quotidian, vernacular, eclectic enterprise. In seeking to redefine the creative industries, this book brings together geographers, historians, sociologists, cultural studies scholars and media/communications experts to explore creativity in diverse places outside major cities. These are places that are physically and/or metaphorically remote, are small in population terms, or which because of old industrial legacies are assumed by others to be unsophisticated or marginal in an imaginary geography of creativity. This book reveals the richness and depth, the challenges and surprises of being creative beyond city limits. This book was originally published as a special issue of Australian Geographer.