Creative hubs: A critical evaluation

The aim of this paper is to interrogate the idea of the creative hub. It argues that hubs are more than buildings or containers, they can provide a crucial link between intermediary activities (social and economic). It argues against generalisation of an abstract and general hub model and in favour of an understanding of creative hubs in their empirical diversity embedded local conditions. The paper is divided into four parts. The first, explores how creative hubs are framed by economic theory; the second explores the importance of context – the specificities of history and place – in shaping our notions of creative hubs. The third part examines the ‘user experience’: the cultural economy and the cultural workers occupying such spaces, finally we explore evaluation of hubs concluding with the importance of shifting the focus from infrastructure provider to that of supporting user needs