What to Make of New York's New Economy? The Politics of the Creative Field

Inner-city ensembles featuring novel mixes of culture, technology and commerce are generating synergies of production, consumption and place. Yet, this 'new economy of the city' is also linked to contradictory economic impulses and negative effects. Proposing that economistic accounts have a limited ability to explain the rise of these ensembles, their effects and the possibilities for policy, the idea of a 'creative field' is revised in order to analyse how politics have shaped a creative ensemble in Lower Manhattan. It is shown that the political influence of real estate has helped to displace firms and residents of modest means, and has stunted campaigns by creative sectors to access resources, build institutions and upgrade capacities. However, a survey of creative industry politics hints at alternative policies that, in the wake of the financial collapse, might promote progressive ties between creative segments and modest neighbourhoods.