The Neighbourhood in the Creative Economy: Policy, Practice and Place in Singapore

This paper examines the wild and unruly side of the creative economy and how work-styles associated with this form of production are closely tied to particular types of urban environment. In the case of Singapore, the policy to grow creative industry as a key competitive strategy has focused on building infrastructure, manpower and alliances without space provision for a range of activities. State policies, especially in the education of creative workers and artists, are broad in their impacts and these tend to have unanticipated effects in growing a wider array of activities than imagined. As a result, new start-ups take root in ungentrified portions of Singapore's inner city where low rents and centrality provide the functional basis for growth, but equally important, the diversity and vitality create an atmosphere which fits the work-styles of new economy firms.