The Influence of District Visual Quality on Location Decisions of Creative Entrepreneurs

Problem: A redevelopment aim of numerous Western world cities is to attract creative firms to formerly abandoned or neglected districts. While some studies propose that visual assets of neighborhoods may attract creative entrepreneurs to certain districts, few have explored how visual features are important for creative entrepreneurs and provided meaningful planning knowledge. Purpose: This article examines the influence of district visual form as perceived by creative entrepreneurs on their location decisions. It suggests how this knowledge is usable for development of cultural production districts. Methods: I conducted 63 interviews with creative entrepreneurs in three districts in The Netherlands: the Eastern Docklands in Amsterdam, the Lloyd Quarter in Rotterdam, and the Hortus Quarter in Groningen. These districts accommodate relatively more firms in creative industries than do other districts within the same cities, but they are visually disparate in terms of architecture and urban spaces. Results and conclusions: This article demonstrates a significant relationship between district visual quality and the location behavior of creative entrepreneurs. Moreover, there is more than one visual model for cultural production districts. Urban design, architecture, waterfronts, and parks may have various forms, provided that they single out one place from other, mainstream places. The overall visual character of the district needs to be perceived as distinctive, whether deliberately designed as such or not. Because the visual quality of the district contributes to increased creative productivity, creative entrepreneurs use their relative freedom of location within cities to achieve quality of place at work. Takeaway for practice: Cities that aim to attract creative entrepreneurs to certain districts should use strategies to achieve district visual quality. I draw on my findings to point at several planning strategies to inspire flexible, localized approaches to the development of visually distinctive cultural production districts. These strategies can be alternated and adjusted over time, according to a district's existing visual quality, availability of government resources, and the changing constraints and opportunities of a region's cultural production system. Research support: Dissertation support from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Dissertation Fellowship from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA, USA. The Netherlands Institute of City Innovation Studies (NICIS), The Hague, and the municipalities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Groningen cofinanced the fieldwork.