Cultural scenes,the creative class and development in Spanish municipalities

Abstract

In addition to human capital and creativity, cultural consumption opportunities play an important role in explaining local development and growth. They promote the attraction of visitors, as well as the attraction of the creative class, improving local income and wages. This paper analyses the relative importance of cultural consumption opportunities, as cultural scenes, explaining income differences among Spanish municipalities. Indices to measure talent, creative class, and different kinds of opportunities for cultural consumption at the local level are proposed, using multivariate regression analysis to show their complementary impact on local income. In addition to human capital and the creative class, the main results show that different kinds of opportunities for cultural consumption (cultural scenes) have an independent impact on local income.

Keywords

Creativity creative class culture municipalities Spain urban development

Introduction

There is no doubt that in the context of the new information economy the creative or cultural economy is becoming ever more important (Scott, 1997). It is for this reason that the thesis of the creative class, formulated by Florida (2002c), has been receiving greater attention in analysis of urban and regional development. This thesis analyses the impact of an occupational group that stands out for its creativity and cultural consumption patterns. However, it has also been the subject of several criticisms ranging from its conceptual and operational definition of the creative class to the novelty of its hypothesis in comparison with previous theories, the strength of its empirical evidence, and the distance between its analytical proposals and its indicators (Glaeser, 2005; Krätke, 2010; McGranahan and Wojan, 2007; Markusen, 2006; Peck, 2005 or Hansen and Niedomysl, 2008).

Without overlooking the above, here we focus on one aspect that, although central to this perspective, has received little attention in its development and analysis: the opportunities for cultural consumption. Moreover, this question gives rise to a more generic perspective on urban and regional development, of which the thesis of the creative class might come to be seen as a particular example. The main idea in this article is that different clusters of cultural consumption opportunities, or ‘cultural scenes’, attract different groups and have a certain impact on regional development, independently of other factors. Cultural scenes, as opportunities for cultural consumption, promote different lifestyles than could enhance (or discourage) the diffusion or interchange of creativity (Silver et al., 2010). Thus, scenes orientated towards an innovative lifestyle could be an appropriate context to attract creativity and reinforce its impact on local development.

This paper seeks to analyse the creative class thesis in the case of Spanish municipalities. We try to answer three common questions relating to the creative class thesis: where the creative class locate, which factors influence their location, and what effect they have on local income. We will reproduce the main hypothesis of the creative class literature to answer these questions. This will allow for progress in the comparative analysis of this perspective. Nevertheless, our main objective is to show the importance of cultural scenes as a factor that attracts the creative class and reinforces its effect on local income. Do innovative cultural scenes influence the location of the creative class? Do these kinds of cultural scenes reinforce the effect of creative class on local income? First, we will review the main hypothesis of the creative class thesis. Second, we will introduce the concept of cultural scenes and a specific hypothesis about its influence. Third, an empirical analysis comparing Spanish municipalities is developed to test these hypotheses. Finally, some conclusions are developed with regard to the previous hypotheses and analyses.

Creative class, cultural consumption, and local development

The creative class thesis is basically organized around three hypotheses relating to the three Ts (talent, tolerance, and technology) (Florida, 2002c). The first notes that in the new information economy talent, understood as creativity developed in certain occupations, rather than human capital, as workers’ qualifications, is a crucial factor in regional development (Florida et al., 2008). However, some criticisms of the thesis, perhaps the most important ones, point out that there are virtually no differences between the two views, with human capital theory being a more settled perspective and with clearer evidence to back it up (Glaeser, 2000, 2005).

The second hypothesis is that the creative class is attracted or tends to locate itself in those regional spaces known for having a social climate characterized by tolerance, diversity, and anonymity. This social atmosphere favours the development of more innovative and transgressive lifestyles, which find their expression in specific practices of cultural consumption. According to Florida, the creative class constitutes the most important group of consumers for urban services because of its specialized preferences. They develop an ‘ethos’ and neo-bohemian lifestyle characterized by specialized and innovative practices of cultural consumption: life performance, arts or design (Brooks, 2000; Florida, 2002a, 2002b). However, this relationship between the creative class and cultural innovation is a premise often taken for granted. There exists little evidence relating the creative class to these patterns of consumption and whether they differ from those of other occupational groups.

Furthermore, there is little discussion about the relationship between the three factors that make up a favourable social climate. In general it is taken as a premise that tolerance usually occurs in the same way as racial and social diversity, the existence of groups with innovative lifestyles and the existence of certain kinds of cultural consumption opportunities. However, the relationship between tolerance and ethnic diversity is, at best, problematic, and there are conflicting hypotheses and empirical results related to it (Oliver, 2010; Sharp and Joslyn, 2008). Similarly, the existence of more opportunities for cultural consumption does not necessarily imply the existence of a tolerant population: art museums, opera houses, or theatres can mean that people have ‘refined taste’, but not necessarily tolerance (Bourdieu, 1999). In any case these traits are often related to scale and to the urban (Fisher, 1984), the creative class being an urban phenomenon (Lorenzen and Vaarst, 2009).

The third hypothesis indicates that the effect of the creative class on regional development is facilitated by the existence of a business climate orientated towards the new economics of information and the intensive use of technology. This supposes the existence of a direct effect of the creative class and technology on regional development, as well as a joint effect: the impact of the creative class is greater when it carries out its work in a climate characterized by competitiveness and innovation (Boschma and Fritsch, 2009; Florida et al., 2008).

Cultural consumption, lifestyles, and regional development: the urban amenities premium and the cultural scenes approach

Thus, the thesis of the creative class, and its second hypothesis in particular, attaches crucial importance to opportunities for cultural consumption. To attract and retain the creative class, places must, among other things, offer opportunities for cultural consumption that are appropriate for its members (Florida, 2008). From this perspective, the creative class thesis can be understood as an approach that focuses on cultural consumption as an explanatory factor for regional development (Pratt, 2008).

In general, this postulate of the creative class focuses attention on quality of life, in terms of urban services and cultural amenities in particular, as a significant explanatory factor in urban and regional development. This supposes that cultural consumption could drive territorial development (Clark et al., 2001). Thus, for example, Glaeser et al. (2001) show that the population and income growth of cities depends on both classical factors associated with transport costs and human capital, and the existence of cultural amenities, which they call the ‘amenities premium’ p. 30. Other arguments and analyses also point to the importance of amenities and cultural consumption for urban growth (Clark, 2003b; Colwell and Deliring, 2002; Roback, 1982; Shapiro, 2006). Thus, these contributions imply the existence of a different hypothesis to explain regional development: opportunities for cultural consumption have a direct effect on regional development independently of other factors. Thus, to the three Ts (talent, tolerance, and technology), the ‘cultural amenities premium’ would have to be added.

Furthermore, opportunities for cultural consumption transform places into different cultural scenes based on the lifestyles they promote and allow to express themselves. More specifically, the cultural scenes involve spaces where a lifestyle in the form of significant cultural consumption manifests itself. It is not about a specific amenity or cultural consumption but rather about a set of amenities that encourage the development of cultural practices that reflect a set of values and aesthetic criteria of recognition and authenticity (Silver et al., 2010).

Thus different localities, or parts of them, on the basis of their cultural scenes, attract different groups in relation to their lifestyles and patterns of cultural consumption. It is not, therefore, a generic assumption about the influence of cultural scenes on development but rather some ‘contextual relativism’: different kinds of people move to different locations with distinct amenities. What attracts one person can repel others (Clark, 2003: 123–124). There will exist, therefore, specific ‘cultural scene premiums’. Each individual set of cultural consumption opportunities, each cultural scene, will have a different value for different groups, attracting them, or not.

However, both studies on the effects of cultural amenities on urban development and the creative class thesis usually measure opportunities for cultural consumption in terms of the number or density of certain cultural installations (or the number of workers employed by them). The logic behind this is that a greater density of these cultural facilities explains the presence of creative class. In this case. studies usually analyse the presence of museums, literary and artistic activities, performances, and sport as well as restaurants, bars, and nightclubs (Boschman and Fritsch, 2009; Clifton, 2008; Florida, 2002a, 2002b; Hansen, 2007).

From the perspective of cultural scenes, interest is focused not so much on number of amenities (in terms of either volume or density) but rather on the kind of lifestyle they support. It is not a question of carrying out isolated cultural practices but rather a set of practices that shape a specific lifestyle based on the reasons and motives that justify them, the way they are shared with others, or the feeling of authenticity that is found in them (Silver et al., 2010). Thus the ‘grammar of cultural scenes’, the conceptual framework for interpreting the opportunities for cultural consumption that exist in a place, focuses on the meanings of the cultural practices that can be carried out in them.

The cultural scenes approach maintains that cultural consumption facilities could be interpreted on the basis of three broad dimensions and a total of 15 sub-dimensions (Table 1). These sub-dimensions stress different cultural consumption practices and lifestyles. Thus, the central idea is that each one of the amenities existing in the city can be ‘read’ with the aid of this ‘grammar’, as different types of legitimacy, theatricality, and authenticity (the dimensions) are constitutive elements, or, on the contrary, they may oppose the practices in which they are developed (e.g. a tattoo parlour is transgressive but not at all formal while the contrary is true of opera). The ‘mathematics of cultural scenes’ consists of each facility or service being codified for each sub-dimension on a scale of five points, with 1 meaning that the sub-dimension opposes the essence of the cultural practice in the codified amenity, 5 meaning that it is essential in order to account for it, and 3 denoting neutrality in relation to the dimension being considered. Thus each amenity is measured on the basis of 15 indices.

Table 1.

Cultural scenes: dimensions and sub-dimensions.

Dimension	Sub-dimension	Examples of amenities
Legitimacy	Traditional	Historical sites, archaeological museums, archives
	Utilitarian	Fast food restaurants, convention centres
	Egalitarian	Public parks, libraries
	Self-expressive	Live performance, dance companies, galleries, tattoo
	Charismatic	Film festivals, fashion, flamenco, golf
Theatricality	Glamour	Film festivals, production, fashion
	Formality	Opera, fine dining, golf
	Transgression	Nightclubs, tattoo, piercing, adult entertainment
	Neighbourliness	Small commerce and artcraft
	Exhibitionism	Fashion, adult entertainment, nightclubs
Authenticity	Local	Historical site, retail commerce
	Ethnic	Flamenco, folk music, Mexican or Thai restaurants
	Corporate	Convention centre, theme park
	State	Embassies and delegations, historical sites, libraries
	Rationale	Research and development, libraries, aquarium, science museum

Source: Silver et al. (2010).

By weighting the number of establishments for each amenity by its score in a sub-dimension (e.g. tradition) and then adding up all these values we obtain the intensity indicator for each sub-dimension (e.g. the level of traditionalism in the city). Thus the opportunities for cultural consumption in a city will be calculated not on the basis of the number of amenities but rather by their value in the 15 sub-dimensions. In order to detect the specialization of a city with regard to the provision for certain types of cultural consumption in certain sub-dimensions, those that make it different, attractive, and recognizable for certain groups, a performance indicator is taken into account. It is calculated by dividing the intensity indicators by the total number of amenities in the city. This indicator will show to what extent this dimension is noteworthy and visible in a locality. It will also show in what specific combinations of sub-dimensions that above-mentioned specialization exists. Cultural scenes, therefore, involve specific patterns of relations among 15 sub-dimensions.

The proposal of cultural scenes allows us to establish analytically what scene, what set of cultural opportunities is attractive to each group, as well as what kinds of cultural scenes produce or do not produce regional development. From this perspective the thesis of the creative class can be understood as a specification of the more generic view of the impact of cultural consumption on regional development, the application of the cultural scenes approach to that occupational group. However, this in turn implies the specification of the second hypothesis of the creative class, as well as a new hypothesis about its effect on local development. First, the creative class tends to locate itself in regions whose cultural scenes are characterized by an ethos and lifestyle of cultural innovation. Second, cultural scenes of this type generate regional development both directly and through an interactive effect by creating a cultural environment favourable to the creativity of the creative class. The effect of the creative class is related not uniquely to a business climate orientated towards technology but also to a context of cultural innovation, cultural consumption, and lifestyles that strengthens its creativity and innovation.

Thus from the general perspective of the cultural scenes the thesis of the creative class might be formulated on the basis of the following postulates or hypotheses, with those points already made in this text signalled in italics. Together with our main hypotheses about the effects of cultural scenes (H1a, H4, H4a), other basic statements about the creative class are retained to allow comparison with previous studies in other countries, and to know the specific impact of our hypothesis regardless of the factors included in the creative class hypothesis.

Q1. Where is the creative class located? Which factors influence its location?

H1. The creative class is attracted and/or retained by localities where there is a social climate of tolerance and diversity.

H1a. The creative class is attracted and/or retained by localities where there are cultural scenes characterized by cultural innovation.

Q2. What effect does it have on local income?

H2. The creative class, as an occupational vision of talent, has a direct impact on territorial development, but independent of the effect of human capital.

H3. A business climate orientated to technology businesses and innovation favours regional development.

H3a. The impact of the creative class on regional development is greater where there is a business climate that is orientated to technological businesses and innovation.

H4. Cultural scenes orientated to cultural innovation have a positive effect on regional development.

H4a. The impact of the creative class on regional development is greater where there is a cultural scene characterized by cultural innovation.

Data and methodology

Given the high degree of fragmentation of the Spanish municipal system, municipalities are grouped in 806 local labour markets using the classification made by Boix and Galleto (2006). These will be our territorial units. However, as there are considerable differences in size between them, logarithmic scales will be used for the majority of our indicators. The scale of the local labour market will be included as a control variable in our models (number of inhabitants).¹

Average rent per habitant has been taken as the measure of regional development, as was done by Florida (2002c) and Florida et al. (2008). Here it is used in the form of an interval scale that identifies 10 income ranges for 2002 elaborated by the Socioeconomic Report of La Caixa (La Caixa, 2002). Our measurements, therefore, take account of place differences rather than changes in the level of territorial development over time. The other variables and indices are those commonly used in the examination of the creative class, though with certain changes. These indices are elaborated using the 2001 national census, the most recent data available at the municipal level for analysing the creative class and cultural scenes in Spain.

To measure the creative class a restricted definition has been used based on the proposal by MacGranaham and Wojan (2007), accepted by Florida et al. (2008). Specifically, those occupations which mainly involve labour force reproduction duties have been excluded. This focuses the analysis on those occupations that involve greater creativity without including those most sensitive to the concentration of population or the presence of government entities. Basically, this supposes the exclusion of the professional creative class, mainly welfare public services (education, health, social services, judicial system), as well as political elites (councillors, state governors, or members of parliament). We use the common measure of human capital: the percentage of workers with a degree in the municipality (Florida et al., 2008; Glaeser, 2005).

Business climate is measured through the location of technology businesses following the criteria set out by Hansen (2007). Three factors are considered in the measurement of the social climate: diversity, tolerance, and opportunities for cultural consumption. The first one measures the number of foreigners in a municipality. The justification usually given for this is that the presence of immigrants will give rise to a greater degree of tolerance by way of daily contact, a certain form of bridging social capital (Putnam, 2000). However, in Spain the results produced by contact between the Spanish and immigrants have been ambiguous regarding tolerance. There are clear patterns of territorial segregation according to this criterion in Spanish cities (Echazarra, 2010), as ‘residential xenophobia’ (Checa and Arjona, 2007: 192), although acceptance is promoted when they live in the same neighbourhood (Herranz, 2008). For this reason a specific indicator of tolerance is included; the percentage of couples that are either homosexuals or living together without being married. Both amount to unconventional forms of life that indicate a greater degree of social tolerance (Sharp, 2005), especially in a country like Spain with a historical Catholic tradition.²

Finally, with respect to opportunities for cultural consumption, two indices were used. First, the one that is commonly used in the literature is a density measure (the number of employees in cultural businesses per 1000 inhabitants). The categories of economic activities used in previous studies (Boschman and Fritsch, 2009; Clifton, 2008; Hansen, 2007) have been used here, as well as others from the commercial sector (leather, footwear, clothes, second-hand goods, and antiques). Although other studies have not usually included these activities, both the thesis of the creative class as well as other studies of the influence of cultural consumption on regional development show their importance (Lloyd, 2006; Zuckin, 2005).

The second measure uses the cultural scenes approach. Each economic activity included has been coded with a score in each sub-dimension.³ On this basis the performance indicators were drawn up, following the criteria outlined in the previous section. Finally, in order to define cultural scenes as underlying dimensions to these 15 indicators, factor analysis was carried out. The scores for each locality for the first factor were used as an indicator of cultural scenes. As will be shown in the next section, this factor is a continuous variable which differentiates between ‘communitarian scenes’ and ‘unconventional scenes’, with the second being close to the patterns of cultural consumption related to the creative class (Table 2).

Table 2.

Basic indices of Spanish local labour markets: descriptive statistics.

Concept	Dimensions	Indices	Mean	Standard deviation	Minimum	Maximum
Economic	Income level (1)	Mean income per capita: (0–10) scale	4.29	2.01	1.00	10.000
Size (scale)	Population	No. of inhabitants (1000)	52.49	238.44	1.95	5316.50
Talent	Human capital	Working population with a degree or more (%)	12.69	4.74	3.46	29.62
	Creative class	Delimited occupational groups (%)	14.98	4.42	3.92	32.83
Business climate	Tech-pole index	Technological industries (%)	2.22	2.09	.09	16.67
Social climate	Tolerance	Household: homosexual and unmarried couples (%)	3.94	2.99	.51	25.93
	Diversity	Foreign born (%)	2.96	4.35	.02	42.90
Cultural consumption opportunities	Density	Employees in cultural industries per 1000 inhabitants	33.96	15.61	6.20	122.28
	Scenes	Communitarian <-> unconventional	0.00	1.00	−3.13	2.78

Source: Census of Population (2001) and Informe Socioeconómico La Caixa (2002). N = 806 local labour markets.

Our analysis is focused on finding out factors associated with the location of the creative class and whether, along with other factors, they account for differences in income levels. As in the case of other analyses, causal relations cannot be inferred in the absence of appropriate variables for doing so. Thus, analyses show more or less robust associations between variables. More specifically, for each dependent variable (creative class or income) three models of multiple regression analysis were carried out, modifying the indicators dealing with opportunities for cultural consumption. The first model includes the standard indicator of opportunities for cultural consumption, that of the density ‘cultural amenities premium’ of cultural amenities. This model allows for a comparison between Spain and results obtained in other countries. The second model includes the cultural scenes index and the third includes both kinds of measures. This shows the impact of cultural scenes on attracting or retaining the creative class, and their interactive effect with the creative class on income inequalities between municipalities regardless of factors linked to the main ideas of the creative class thesis.⁴ That is, the last model will test our hypotheses about the creative class from the cultural scenes approach, the main objective in this article.

Creative class, amenity premium, and income: analysis and results

In this section the main results are presented. First, the localization of the creative class across localities and the geography of opportunities for cultural consumption are shown. Second, results of the localization of the creative class according to traits of social climate and cultural consumption opportunities in localities are shown. Third, the impact of the creative class on localities’ rent, regardless of other factors, is analysed.

The geography of the creative class and cultural consumption opportunities: main descriptive traits

According to the definition used here, in 2001 the creative class made up about 14% of the working population of Spain.⁵ As can be seen in Figure 1 the creative class is concentrated in the large urban areas such as Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Seville, Zaragoza and Valencia. However, it also is present in small local communities where the majority of the labour force works in occupations related to entertainment (natural parks and sports facilities, for example). Nevertheless, the general pattern shows that the creative class, just like human capital, is concentrated in the largest labour markets (the correlations with the number of inhabitants are roughtly equal, at 0.310 and 0.349 respectively). Thus, as in other countries, the creative class is mainly an urban phenomenon closely related to the size of localities (Lorenzen and Vaarst, 2009). In fact, in Spain, the clusters of creative industries are concentrated in the biggest urban areas (Lazzaretti et al., 2008), as well as the activities around knowledge-intensive services (Méndez and Sánchez, 2011).

Figure 1.

Location of the creative class in Spain in 2001. (% of workforce in local labour markets).

The application of factor analysis to the performance indices of the 15 sub-dimensions shows that the first factor explains something less than half of the variance (see Appendices 1 and 2). This differentiates between two kinds of scenes (Table 3). On the one hand there are those in which the sub-dimensions of tradition, egalitarianism, neighbourliness, localism, and ethnicity predominate, while on the other there are scenes that are characterized by self-expression, charisma, transgression, and glamour. In basic terms the first accounts for a communitarian type of cultural scene in which values and identities related to tradition prevail; in short these are conventional lifestyles. The second one accounts for cultural scenes that allow for the development of unconventional, innovative lifestyles in which transgression and ‘aesthetic distance’ become important. In these localities are found amenities related to artistic and literary creation (museums, artistic and literary creation) but also those related to entertainment: both those that can be characterized as ‘natural’, located in rural areas (such as natural parks and sporting facilities), as well as those that are more characteristic of urban areas (concert halls, cinemas, and amusement parks, but also beauty parlours and gymnasiums). Thus, the highest figures for this indicator mark sites that are ‘cool’ and transgressive, where it is possible to live unconventionally.

Table 3.

Opportunities for cultural consumption: the main empirical dimensions of scenes.

Dimensions	Scenes
	Communitarian	Unconventional
	Sub-dimensions	Sub-dimensions
Legitimacy	Tradition, egalitarian	Expressiveness, charisma, utilitarianism
Theatricality	Neighbourliness, formalism	Transgression, glamour, exhibitionism
Authenticity	Localism, ethnicity, state, rational	Corporate
Typical amenities	Libraries, restaurants, beauty salons, commerce (clothes)	Artistic and literary creation, museum, natural park, thematic park, commerce (second hand)

Note: Bold: loading factors > 0.70 (see Annex 2.2).

However, the association between the indicator of cultural scenes and the size of localities is low (r = 0.168), lower than the correlation of size with the density of cultural amenities (r = 0.265). Furthermore, cultural scenes follow a specific geographic pattern that is not strictly related to municipal size and rather more so to cultural frameworks. These tend to be less community-based and less conventional in the north east of the country than in the south, and somewhat more so in the islands and coastal areas, especially of the Mediterranean, by comparison with the interior of the country (Figure 2). The density measure reflects, more strongly, the criteria of city size. The big cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Zaragoza stand out clearly, along with some coastal areas where tourism is important (Islands or Marbella) (Figure 3), showing common location patterns of economic activities in Spain; especially for tourism (Polése et al., 2007). However, the association between both indicators is low (r = 0.226). Though they are related, these two indicators account for different phenomena: density of cultural opportunities and specialization in unconventional cultural consumption. Thus, in accordance with the creative class thesis, this group should locate in spaces where unconventional cultural scenes predominate and not just in places where there is more density of cultural amenities.

Figure 2.

The geography of cultural scenes in Spain (2001): communitarian vs. unconventional scenes (factorial scores: negative values = conventional; positive values = unconventional).

Figure 3.

Opportunities for cultural consumption (density) (2001).

Attracting and retaining the creative class: tolerance, diversity, and cultural consumption

As has already been indicated, the thesis of the creative class holds that this occupational group tends to locate itself in places notable for their tolerance and diversity as well a broad range of specialized opportunities for cultural consumption (H1). We have introduced a new statement indicating that the localization of the creative class depends on the existence of cultural scenes that encourage unconventional lifestyles (H1a); that is to say, a positive relationship with the cultural scenes indicator.

The regression analyses show that the creative class tends to be concentrated in larger towns, and in areas with higher levels of tolerance, but, unlike other countries, its presence is negatively associated with the diversity indicator (see Table 4). Thus, it should be noted that, at least in the Spanish case, tolerance and diversity are two different factors with regard to their influence on the creative class localization. This group is concentrated in spaces where there exist new forms of cohabitation, as in the tolerance index, but tends to keep away from areas that might be regarded as melting pots, as is shown by patterns of segregation in Spanish cities (García-Almirall et al., 2008; Leal and Domínguez, 2008).

Table 4.

The location of the creative class: tolerance, diversity and cultural consumption.

		Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Population	Size	0.309	0.312	0.290
Social climate	Tolerance	0.236	0.374	0.174
	Diversity	−0.046	−0.077	−0.119
Cultural consumption	Density Scenes	0.340	0.233	0.359 0.254
R ²		0.447	0.424	0.497

Significant coefficients in bold (p < 0.05).

(Ordinary least squares standardized coefficients).

With regard to opportunities for cultural consumption it can be seen that, as was found in other studies, their density was positively associated with the presence of the creative class, and this remains true even when the size of the population is controlled for (Model 1, Table 4). It also tends to locate itself where unconventional cultural scenes are prevalent (Model 2, Table 4), though this does not greatly reduce the explanatory power of this model with respect to the previous one (R² = 0.447 vs. 0.424). Moreover, this effect of scenes is maintained in the model in which it is jointly included with the density indicator (Model 3). It is, therefore, a robust result. All of this confirms that opportunities for cultural consumption are a relevant factor when it comes to explaining the location of the creative class in Spain. However, both the density of the opportunities and the type of cultural scene are important; the creative class tends to be found in places where there is a lot of cultural activity and it orients itself towards less conventional cultural consumption.⁶ The main difference is that unconventional scenes account for the analytical premises about the localization of creative class, showing a similar empirical explanatory capacity to previous models.

The impact of the creative class, social climate and business climate: territorial income inequalities

Is the location of the creative class related to income differences? Is the effect of its presence reinforced by the existence of a social climate orientated towards innovation? To answer these questions the models used here include the presence of the creative class, human capital (as the percentage of labour market with a university degree) and the business climate (technology businesses) but also variables related to the social climate (density and cultural scenes indicators). This allows the models to see whether the presence of the creative class has a direct effect on income independent of human capital (H2), the effect of the business climate (H3), and the effect of opportunities for cultural consumption (H4). Furthermore, in order to examine other proposed hypotheses those models were replicated to include the interactive effect between the presence of the creative class and the entrepreneurial climate (H3a), as well as the two indicators of opportunity for cultural consumption used here (H4a).

The results are similar to those obtained in other countries (see Table 5).⁷ The size of the locality implies lower income levels but this increases when human capital does and even more so when the presence of the creative class increases (according to standardized coefficients), though its effect is less than the existence of favourable social and business climates (especially the second). By contrast, the density of cultural opportunities, the impact of which has not usually been analysed in studies of the creative class, shows a negative or insignificant association with income (according to the model) while the cultural scenes indicator shows the expected effect on all the models, independent of the size of the locality.

Table 5.

Income inequalities: the creative class, and opportunities for cultural consumption.

		Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 1a	Model 2a	Model 2c
Population	Size	−0.356	−0.338	−0.338	−0.388	−0.365	−0.355
Human capital	Workers with a degree	0.081	0.089	0.085	0.056	0.064	0.057
Creativity	Creative class	0.172	0.092	0.102	0.310	0.228	0.237
Business climate	Technology	0.430	0.385	0.387	0.448	0.395	0.397
Social climate	Tolerance	0.336	0.287	0.296	0.282	0.225	0.223
	Diversity	0.283	0.209	0.212	0.299	0.239	0.234
Cultural consumption	Density	−0.072		−0.022	−0.055		0.001
	Scenes		0.242	0.239		0.257	0.258
Interaction effects	Creative*Technology				0.140	0.136	0.112
	Creative*Cultural density				0.056		0.063
	Creative*Cultural scenes					0.067	0.052
	R ²	0.641	0.681	0.680	0.659	0.701	0.703

Significant coefficients in bold (p < 0.05).

(Ordinary least squares standardized coefficients).

The analysis carried out here confirms the effect of the three Ts on regional development independently from human capital (H2 and H3) and specifies the effect known as the ‘urban amenities premium’ (H4). However, this latter effect the density of cultural amenities but rather the presence of those that facilitate the unconventional lifestyle thought to be characteristic of the creative class (H4a). Thus, this shows our proposed hypothesis about a ‘cultural scenes premium’ regarding the places that promote innovative lifestyles. In fact, in those models which include interactive effects (Models 1a, 2a and 3a in Table 5) the results mentioned above are maintained except that in two of them the effect of human capital is no longer significant (p < 0.05). Furthermore, these models show that the innovative character of the business climate and cultural scenes reinforces the effect of the presence of the creative class on income levels (H3a and H4a). There is a direct effect of creative class on income, and this is reinforced an innovative business climate, as the creative class thesis claims, as well as an innovative or unconventional cultural scene climate, as proposed in this article.

In summary, the analysis shows that innovation, both business and cultural, accounts for differences in regional development, not only directly but also by enhancing the effect the creative class has on it. These are, therefore, not only factors that explain development but also facilitators of the effect of creativity, and all of this, to some degree, is independent from the size of the local labour market. It is not appropriate, therefore, to attribute the effects of less unconventional cultural scenes or others of the factors considered here to agglomeration effects. Though size is an important factor in attracting the creative class and generating a climate of innovation, positive effects can also occur in smaller localities and in rural areas, given the presence of a combination of innovative climates and agents, whether entrepreneurial or cultural (McGranahan et al., 2010; Nuur and Laestadivs, 2009).

Conclusion: on the cultural scenes premium

The basic objective of this article was to examine the effects of cultural consumption opportunities, as cultural scenes, on creative class localization patterns, as well as its effect on local income among Spanish municipalities. We have also incorporated the main hypothesis of the creative class thesis about these question to allow the comparison with studies in other countries, and to show the impact of cultural scenes regardless the explanatory factors included in these hypothesis. That is to say, is there a ‘cultural scenes premium’ regardless of other social climate and social business factors?

Results show the location of the creative class follows a similar pattern to other countries, but they also show a positive answer to the previous question. This occupational group is located in places on a large scale, where there are patterns of tolerance towards new forms of cohabitation and a higher density of cultural consumption opportunities. Similarly, the differences in territorial development, measured in terms of per capita income, appear to be related to the presence of the creative class, the existence of a business climate orientated towards technological industries, and a social climate characterized by tolerance and diversity. However, our evidence supports an equally strong and independent influence of cultural scenes: to explain patterns of creative class, to explain income differences, and to reinforce the effect of creative class on these differences. That is to say, there is a ‘cultural scenes premium’ for these places where cultural consumption opportunities are orientated towards lifestyle innovation, those analytically linked to the cultural consumption patterns of creative class.

This implies that culture supply matters, although not as a cultural amenities premiun (density or volume) but as a specific cultural scenes premium (innovation). Thus, local development depends on technological as well as social and cultural innovation. Moreover, there is an effect of unconventional scenes on income regardless of the impact of creative class, technology, human capital, or size. This supports the view that the character of cultural consumption opportunities, more than volume or density, is an independent factor linked to local development.

Footnotes

Appendix 1.

Appendix 2. Acknowledgements

The authors thanks Terry N. Clark (University of Chicago) and Daniel Silver (University of Toronto) for their helpful comments.

Funding

This paper has been developed in the framework of the project ‘The Cultural Dynamic of Cities’ (CSO2008-04288/SOCI) funded by the National Research Program (Government of Spain).

Notes

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