Bohemian Cultural Scenes and Creative Development of Chinese Cities: An Analysis of 65 Cities Using Cultural Amenity Data

There has been a cultural turn in urban development, as an increasing number of scholars are stressing the importance of culture in urban research and policy agendas. Specifically, the bohemian cultural scene could drive an integral cultural policy approach between the cultural scenes city and the creative city approach. Based on amenities data from 65 major Chinese cities, this paper investigates the relationship between bohemian cultural scenes and creative development of Chinese cities as well as regional differences using tree-based model, ordinary least squares (OLS) and truncated regression, and provides conceptual and quantitative support for a bohemian cultural scenes policy. Factor analysis suggests the bohemian cultural scene in Chinese cities consists of two dimensions: self-expression and charisma. According to regression results, bohemian scenes significantly promote urban creative development; specifically, charisma has a stronger impact on urban creativity than self-expression. There are also significant regional differences: northern and eastern cities should focus on the development of the charismatic dimension, creative subjects should adjust away from prudent industriousness and practice dynamic experimentalism; whereas southern cities should focus on the self-expressive dimension, and continue to promote tolerance, inclusivity and expressive practice. Finally, the bohemian scenes policy demands an integral policy approach sensitive to the existing socioeconomic context: policymakers should incorporate specific amenities into existing qualities of local spaces and cultural consumption to stimulate creative development.