Dynamics in clustering of creative industries in Shanghai

As observed in the previous chapter, creative industries in Shanghai demonstrated clustering in particular locations, namely, in the inner city, old industrial districts, places close to universities, CBDs, and entertainment and tourist zones. The question now is: Why such spatial characteristics exist? In other words, what are the clustering dynamics of creative industries in Shanghai? This chapter attempts to explain this spatial phenomenon through a comprehensive approach of socioeconomic analysis, consisting of economic agglomeration factors and social agglomeration factors. It argues that clustering dynamics of creative industries can only be fully explained by considering factors such as market, production cost, labor force, infrastructures that new economic geography highlights, and other variables like human-scale interactions, diversity of cultures, peoples, lifestyles, education, intellectual property protection, as well as urban amenities, which are emphasized by knowledge-based or culture-focused studies. This is because creative clusters are not only the economic agglomeration but also the result of sociocultural processes, within which socioeconomic factors should be highly interdependent over place.