Creativity, urban regeneration and sustainability/ The Bordeaux case study

Competitive cities are currently working on how to improve the interaction between culture, regeneration building, economic development and social renewal in order to achieve more comprehensive development. It is a question not only of boosting the economies of culture but also producing new economies, starting from cultural capital, understood as an element of the expression of place identity, and as forming a system together with other types of urban capital. In this context, new alternative strategies and urban policies should be considered. Indeed, creativity is found not only in the typical characteristics of the entrepreneurial spirit but also in forms such as the dissemination of behaviour that is favourable to cultural exchange as well as the enhancement of lifestyle diversity. Starting from these premises, this paper aims to investigate the concept of the creative city/ who the drivers are, the factors that condition creativity in cities, and how they stimulate sustainable urban regeneration and innovation. Within the framework of cultural clusters, the case study of Bordeaux is illustrated. The urban transformation offered by the ‘Bordeaux les deux rives’ project and the other pilot projects are Bordeaux’s driving force for planning and producing new social, cultural and economic change, which enhances the city’s image.