In an era of globalization, activities of the creative economy such as fashion, film, television, theater, music, dance, visual arts, design, architecture, advertising, publishing, multimedia and information technology, have contributed significantly to local economy, community life and the creation of places in cities. Such cities have taken advantage of the trend in natural agglomeration of creative industries, not only as a result of economic efficiency but of innovative synergies unleashed in industrial clusters, given that information, imagination, opinions and cultural sensibilities are transmitted through them. This agglomeration of design and knowledge-intensive industries attain place-specific competitive advantages by utilizing local symbolic culture, which becomes embedded in products that are value-added and unique in character. Together with this trend, carefully designed places in cities that offer life-style choices and amenities emerge as an important strategy for attracting talented people. These cultural places become hubs for creative communities, given that groups of creative professionals tend to cluster in places that provide not only the kind of jobs they seek but also the quality of life amenities they prefer. However, there remains a gap between global and local settings, in which a framework is needed to situate the cities of developing countries within this global phenomenon. Equally important is an understanding of how local knowledge and creativity in different cultural and economic contexts, particularly of cities in developing countries with their informal economy, contribute to this continuing discourse at both theoretical and practical levels. Read more or visit http://www.ar.itb.ac.id/artepolis for more details
