Creative city concept in local economic development: the case of Finnish cities

This article provides an overview of the approach to and application of the creative city concept in Finnish local government. The discussion revolves around how local governments have utilised the creative city concept in local economic development. The empirical part focuses on local governments’ approaches to creative city with special reference to two cases: the cities of Helsinki and Tampere, which are at the forefront of the Finnish creative city movement. The analysis shows that only a few small and remote local communities have given creativity, culture and arts a major role in their economic development policy, whereas larger cities are increasingly incorporating the creative city concept into their development strategies. Finnish local governments’ approach can be described as institutional, even if the business-oriented approach is gradually gaining ground, as exemplified by the case of the city of Tampere. In all, it appears that so far the idea of creative city has been applied in Finnish cities on a partial and ad hoc basis.