Local political change, the neo-creative city paradigm and the mutations of Valencian cultural branding

Abstract

The 21st Century has seen the emergence and subsequent crisis of the Creative City paradigm in which the broad scope of culture and heritage for urban branding has been shown. Valencia's case has been paradigmatic in showing the potential and negative effects of this strategy, which entered into crisis and constituted one of the critical elements of the strategy of the Conservative local government (1991–2015). With the change of government to a left coalition in 2015, the transformation of a policy based on ‘white elephants’ shifted to one based on the production of International Events and centres to boost the city's strengths within the international framework. Although great events and infrastructures were ditched for a more participatory, sustainable approach, international bodies such as UNESCO consider the city still adopts a ‘Creative City’ strategy. In the new neo-Creative City paradigm, the development strategy focuses on creating value from the bottom up, drawing on the material heritage and the creative fabric to this end. The strategy remains focused on promoting the city as an international brand, on the self-promotion of the local government as a tool of legitimacy, and top-down governance.