Creativity, Social Entrepreneurs and Urban Revitalization


Research Project Annotation

In most cities, public bodies are concerned with social, economical, cultural, and political integration of marginal urban areas. One of the main strategies to achieve this purpose is to consider creativity as one of the main engines of the great urban transformations to support the realization of different scales of urban renewal projects. As these occur in the form of new urban entertainment and economic and cultural clusters in both central and marginal urban areas, a re-evaluation of the relationship of creativity and the city will be necessary.

In times of globalization, ordinary places are increasingly contested and urban experiences fragmented, resulting in ordinary places that facilitate everyday life becoming marginalized and turned into places that are left behind yet rediscovered, excluded yet revived, forgotten yet remembered. It is important to consider ordinary places’ changing roles and functions as this allows us to understand how different places in the city are used over a period of time. Thus, by studying the changing roles, meanings, and functions of ordinary places, we are able to understand how processes of globalization are affecting the formation of different kinds of public places that are used for different purposes, including isolation, resistance, consumption, and creativity.

This project will focus on the urbanity and everyday practices of in/exclusion of marginal, ordinary places that are especially affected by globalization and rising inequalities. I am interested in a better understanding of creativity in the city following three issues from an empirical viewpoint and making use of an innovative methodology.

As a first issue, this project aims to understand everyday practices of in/exclusion and the changing role of the everyday dwellers of Tokyo. Secondly, the project aims to reflect critically on the commodification of marginal urban places to understand how a recent dilution/distortion of the term creativity is affecting everyday practices and temporary uses, as well as different urban identities within the city. This will be done by discussing different ways of occupying the city before following the everyday trail of different urban dwellers, including natives, newcomers, and returnees. The project will apply a vignette-style method to introduce the different urban identities, which will help to provide practical examples to answer my research questions and allow the reader to follow the everyday trails of different users in the city of Tokyo.

More updates on this project available on ResearchGate or Facebook.