The Making of Sustainable Cultural and Creative Clusters in Hong Kong

Tsang Ka Man (2018)

 The establishment of creative space in a city is associated with wealth generation, job creation and urban revitalisation. Many governments recite this formula when setting up clusters. Yet, a one-size-fits-all strategy cannot guarantee sustainable development. This research identifies the fundamental factors in developing a sustainable cluster in a densely populated city. This study examines (1) the concept of a cultural and creative cluster, (2) its relation to creative practitioners in Hong Kong, and (3) its corresponding synchronic and diachronic development. A model has been developed to evaluate the sustainable development of cultural and creative clusters that involves three significant factors: cluster, community and creativity (the 3Cs model). Utilising the findings from three significant empirical studies in Hong Kong (PMQ, Easy Pack Creative Precinct and Design Incubation Programme (DIP) at InnoCentre), the result suggests four external measures that can measure the sustainability of a cultural and creative cluster. The study concludes by demonstrating the applicability of the 3Cs model for highly dense cities such as Hong Kong.