Urban policy to foster innovation/creativity

[sally vivian]

Is anyone aware of any urban policy development that is designed to foster innovation (particularly in an inner city setting)? Also any information/data/papers that have been done on the locational preferences of firms involved in innovation. And lastly any information about 'business clusters' in this sector?

Also has anoyone got a good definition of an 'innovative city'. I am assuming that such a such is strong not only in research and development and probably tertiary education but also in the cultural areas.

[Dwight Mercer]

The City of Regina (Canada) has several policies and functioning programs targetted at inner city housing redevelopment (5year tax exemptions), conversion of surplus A minus office space into residential housing (also with tax exemption) and there are also several operational/information exchange initiatives which keep us in touch with the wishes and wants of a community.

In most cases, we take a background supportive position. If the community is not ready to help itself, there is little lasting value in "City Hall" interceding in the short term. In retrospect, the best thing we did was to talk with the construction industry, the housing industry and the local community. We asked each group for a "Wish List". From these lists, which were shared, all parties were better able to focus on short, medium and long-term projects.

Call for more details if interested.