Malaga's Soho and the North-Eastern Quadrant of Se-ville's historic centre: two paradigmatic examples of cre-ative districts

Authors

Keywords:

Creative districts, bottom-up, top-down, creative industries, Soho Málaga, Sevilla

Abstract

This study analyzes the creative districts of Soho Málaga and the Northeast Quadrant of the Historic Center of Seville, aiming to understand the experiences and concerns of their creators. It explores the reasons for settling in these areas, perceptions of their future, and differences between the two districts. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, based on 23 semi-structured interviews with key informants. Additionally, questionnaires were conducted to gather quantitative indicators, and two documentary short films were produced. The findings reveal that while creators value the creative diversity and collaboration in these neighborhoods, gentrification, touristification, and rising living costs are major concerns. Soho Málaga is perceived as a top-down district, while Seville is seen as bottom-up. Despite the challenges, there is general optimism about the revitalization of these neighborhoods, though tempered by the mentioned threats.

References

AVILÉS-OCHOA, E., & CANIZALEZ-RAMÍREZ, P. M. (2015). Industrias cultura-les y crecimiento económico. Un modelo para el estudio del surgimiento de clusters creativos. Economía, Sociedad y Territorio, 15(47), 185-216. https://est.cmq.edu.mx/index.php/est/article/view/558

CARAVACA BARROSO, I., GONZÁLEZ ROMERO, G., FERNÁNDEZ SALINAS, V., & GARCÍA GARCÍA, A. (2013). Economía creativa en la aglomeración metro-politana de Sevilla: agentes, redes locales de colaboración y principales actuaciones. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, (63). https://bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/1607/1527

CHAPAIN, C., & SAGOT-DUVAUROUX, D. (2018). Cultural and creative clus-ters – a systematic literature review and a renewed research agenda. Ur-ban Research & Practice, 13(3), 300-329. https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2018.1545141

FLORIDA, R. (2002). The rise of the creative class. New York: Basic Books.

FROST-KUMPF, H. A. (1998). Cultural districts: The arts as a strategy for revital-izing our cities. Washington: American for the arts.

JEONG, H., & PATTERSON, M. (2021). Starchitects in Bohemia: An Exploration of Cultural Cities from the “Top-Down” and “Bottom-Up”. Urban Affairs Review, 57(6), 1656-1696. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087420934047

LAVANGA, M. (2020). Cultural districts. En TOWSE, R. & NAVARRETE HER-NÁNDEZ, T. (Eds). Handbook of Cultural Economics, Third Edition (pp. 174-182). Cheltenham: Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788975803.00025

LAZZARO, E. (2022). Cultural and Creative Districts: A Literature Review and a Taxonomy. En POWELL, P., & SHANKAR NAYAK, B. (Eds). Creative Business Education. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10928-7_14

LAZZERETTI, L. (2008). El distrito cultural. Mediterráneo económico, 13, 327-351. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2602242

LAZZERETTI, L., SEDITA, S. R., & CALOFFI, A. (2013). Founders and dissemina-tors of cluster research’. Journal of Economic Geography, 14 (1), 21-43. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbs053

LIDEGAARD, C., NUCCIO, M., & BILLE, T. (2017). Fostering and planning ur-ban regeneration: the governance of cultural districts in Copenhagen. European Planning Studies, 26(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2017.1364352

MARKUSEN, A. (2006). Urban Development and the Politics of a Creative Class: Evidence from a Study of Artists. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 38(10), 1921-1940. https://doi.org/10.1068/a38179

MARKUSEN, A., & GADWA, A. (2010). Arts and Culture in Urban or Regional Planning: A Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 29(3), 379-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X09354380

MARQUES, L. & RICHARDS, G. (2014). Creative districts around the world. Bre-da: NHTV.

MERCADO CELIS, A. (2016). Distritos creativos en la Ciudad de México en la segunda década del siglo XXI. Territorios, 34, 183-213. https://doi.org/10.12804/territ34.2016.08

NOONAN, D. S. (2013). How US Cultural Districts Reshape Neighborhoods. Cultural Trends, 22(3-4), 203-212. https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2013.817652

PILATI, T. & TREMBLAY, D. (2007). Cité créative et District culturel; une ana-lyse des thèses en présence. Géographie, économie, société, 9, 381-401. https://doi.org/10.3166/ges.9.381-401

PRATT, A. C. (2011). The cultural contradictions of the creative city. City, Culture and Society, 2(3), 123-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2011.08.002

REDAELLI, E. (2019). Connecting Arts and Place. Sociology of the Arts. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05339-0_5

RIUS ULLDEMOLINS, J., & ZARLENGA, M. I. (2014). Industrias, distritos, institu-ciones y escenas. Tipología de clústeres culturales en Barcelona. RES. Re-vista Española de Sociología, 21, 47-67. https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/res/article/view/65358

SACCO, P. L., BLESSI, G. T., & NUCCIO, M. (2009). Cultural Policies and Local Planning Strategies: What Is the Role of Culture in Local Sustainable De-velopment? The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 39(1), 45-64. https://doi.org/10.3200/JAML.39.1.45-64

SANFELICI, D. (2017). Um olhar crítico sobre as repercussões urbanas das políticas de distritos criativos. Quid16. Revista del Área de Estudios Urba-nos, 7, 62-66. https://publicaciones.sociales.uba.ar/index.php/quid16/article/view/2853

SANTAGATA, W. (2002). Cultural Districts, Property Rights and Sustainable Economic Growth. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 26(1), 9-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.00360

SANTAGATA, W. (2004). Cultural districts and economic development. EBLA Working Papers Series.https://www.fondazionesantagata.it/ pubblicazioni/ cul-tural-districts-and-economic-development/

SANTAGATA, W. (2006). Cultural Districts and Their Role in Developed and Developing Countries. En GINSBURGH, V. A., & THROSBY, D. (Eds). Hand-book of the economics of art and culture (pp. 1101-1119). Amsterdam: Else-vier.

SCOTT, A. J. (2001). Capitalism, cities, and the production of symbolic forms. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26 (13), 11-23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/623142

TRICARICO, L., JONES, Z. M., & DALDANISE, G. (2020). Platform Spaces: When culture and the arts intersect territorial development and social innova-tion, a view from the Italian context. Journal of Urban Affairs, 44(4-5), 545-566. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2020.1808007

WEN, W. (2012). Scenes, quarters and clusters: the formation and govern-ance of creative places in urban China. Cultural Science, 5(2), 8-27. https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.44

Published

2025-07-10

How to Cite

Castro-Higuera, A., Navarro-Ardoy, L., & Pérez Rufí, J. P. (2025). Malaga’s Soho and the North-Eastern Quadrant of Se-ville’s historic centre: two paradigmatic examples of cre-ative districts. ARTE Y CIUDAD. Research Journal, (27), 7–32. Retrieved from https://www.arteyciudad.com/revista/index.php/num1/article/view/759

Issue

Section

Artículos