From clothing to culinary industries: creativity in the making of place

Abstract

Creative clusters in many Western and Asian cities are predominantly established through policy-making and the involvement of government and private institutions. This paper investigates another way creative industries emerge, whereby individual initiatives of creative young people transform a colonial residential quarter into creative clusters. The creativity of young people has brought life and diversity to a mono-functional urban area by seizing new opportunities for small-scale business practices. The paper is based on a field survey and mapping of 80 clothing and culinary industries at Trunojoyo quarter in Bandung, Indonesia, that contributed to the nomination of Bandung as UNESCO City of Design in 2015. The young people of Bandung exhibit tactical strategies in the emergence of creative clusters and exercise informal processes and social networks as catalysts for growing creative industries. They reveal how youthful energy and creativity within everyday life brings about something that is rational and practical in creating an experiential place and making an historical quarter into a place of high economic performance.