City for creatives: what attracts and repeats the Greater Concepcion Area, Chile. Distances between global and local discourses

Abstract

Objectives

In the context of a discussion, still ongoing, about the concept of creative city, this article contrasts global discourses with local appreciations of people considered the creative class, identifying urban characteristics that attract and establishes roots, and others that produce disaffection and discomfort.

Methodology

The case study was conducted in the Metropolitan Area of Concepción (AMC), Chile, conducting interviews with people considered the creative class; the interviewees were selected using snowball sampling, and the sample universe was bounded under the logic of saturation. Finally, the information obtained was systematized with the Content Analysis software, T-Lab.8.1.

Conclusions

The results were contrasted with a state of the art developments and global academic discursive, evidencing consensus, dissents and hierarchies and revealing the necessary and local adjustment of urban planning and design; in pursuit of a policy of urban competitiveness based on the attraction and retention of creative talents, especially within intermediate urban systems.

Originality

Studying the attraction-retention capacity of intermediate cities for creative groups -with a focus on people and their experiences- is unusual, although it is essential in a scenario of global competition to attract talent and advance human capital.