Vincent Guillon

Genius loci reloaded, The creative renaissance of Nantes and Saint Etienne

Since the middle of the 1990s, the creative city concept has gradually interfered with debates related to the governance and development of urban areas in France. This interference has occurred through a discourse which seeks to praise the territorial virtues of culture. This concept emerged in Anglo-Saxon countries and has since seduced numerous local decision-makers in France. Culture is thus central to city strategies, and is seen as a resource which is mobilised and used in political, economic or touristic projects. This new trend has benefit from the increasing power of cities in terms of public policy implementation, but also from the « post industrialisation » of urban economies, in which culture is part of territorial showcasing. Undoubtedly, Paris has always been considered to be one of the most creative cities in the world, in cultural as in touristic terms. The city, number one tourist spot in Europe, and equipped with one of the best museums of the world is considered to be a creative city par excellence. However, other cities in France, such as Lyon, Lille, Nantes, St Etienne, Nice or Marseille are worthwhile to explore when it comes to illustrate the French attitudes towards the creative city paradigm. Two of these cities, St Etienne and Nantes are taken as examples in this paper because of their earlier strategies to promote their creative soul as an urban development tool.