Fluid memory
As much as industrial development requires materials, energy, and convenient proximity to transport, creative clusters' emergency requires the proper space, infrastructure, and visitor traffic for the talents to unleash. As we progress in the post-industrial era, the value of intangible assets grows - with human capital at its core. As much as the art community is attracted to environmental aspects such as views and vistas, its economic functioning is drawn by available rents, proper venues, manufacturing capacity, and potentially evolving visitor spending.
Little Island park was created in place of the Pier 55 on Hudson River - previously destroyed by Hurricane Sandy
The important centers of world culture, designated Art districts and clusters, and temporary festive and tactical urbanism programs constitute the resilience of the waterfront cities through the value of collective memory and action. The metaphoric meaning of water as a memory has an interesting reflection in the essay "Fondamenta degli incurabili" (or, Watermark) by Joseph Brodsky. The combination of water and stone as the identity of Venice's embankments is compared to space and time. As the author develops the cloud of metaphors around this place, creating a portal into a universal artistic experience, he comes up with the formula of water as a representation of memory. Indeed, reflective and fluid, while accumulative and repetitive, water is associated by Brodsky with the significant functions of memory and basically with the essence of art.
The magnetic attraction of the arts to water operates as a monetizable resource. Many economic and planning theories explain the emergence and development of creative clusters next to the big water - resulting from natural beauty and the legacy of the built industrial environment. As the cities strive for sustainable growth, these models frame the core of driving the art as the consistent local economy and essential brand of a place.
Cultural Industries Theory dedicates the critical role to the creative industries - in urban regeneration and the attractiveness of a place. Green-blue natural amenities make a site increasingly appealing for creative industries. Place-making Theory emphasizes the role of public spaces and considers the built environment as a crucial factor shaping city social and cultural life. Design and management of public spaces can influence everyday scenarios and create a sense of place, fostering social and artistic expression. Therefore, the riverfront space design contributes to the emergence of vibrant creative clusters.
Agglomeration Theory describes the location of firms and industries near each other with their advantages of knowledge spillovers, labor market pooling, and other agglomeration economy benefits. This leads to thriving creative cluster formation, a ripple effect of other artists attracting new innovative firms and talents. Urban Ecology Theory also focuses on the complexity of systems and elements interacting dynamically. Thus, a city's built environment and proximity to water create a unique urban design conducive to the emergence of creative industries and artistic activities. Finally, the Creative Destruction Theory approaches the arts and innovation as a natural result of dynamic changes following urban development and progress. It depicts the continuous process of creation and disruption in the economy, where new ideas and industries replace older ones. This process leads to the emergence of new economic sectors, including the creative and cultural industries.
Dumbo, New York, NY
We can see from all these models, especially the latter one, how the conflict of preservation and innovation represents the two sides of the formation of the cities and economies adaptive to external and internal disruptions and stress. Traditions within the constant changes support knowledge building and adaptivity - which are essential to enhance resilience. As creative districts' emergence embodies the production of new meanings and perceptions - this process represents an endless reincarnation of an obsolete into a breakthrough. That said, the evolution of our culture. In this context, all we need to facilitate this process is to allow it to happen and contribute to beneficial conditions. As much as local culture represents the carrier of sense, we - locals - represent the "native speakers" of its context-based dialect. And in this - our role is the sparkles of knowledge and understanding of the true genius loci and intangible values of a place, reflected and accumulated in the water.
