Exploring the idea of the creative class in an African city : a case study of ICT professionals in Nairobi

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is an exploration of Richard Florida's Creative Class theory within anAfrican city context. The economic value of the Creative Class is that their workrevolves around innovation, a quality seen as essential to 'new economy' urbangrowth. Quality of place (that which makes 'New York, New York') is said to attract theCreative Class to certain cities, as lifestyle amenities are valued as much asemployment opportunities. Nairobi is an example of an African city currently attractingboth Kenyan and expatriate Creative Class workers, particularly in the information andcommunication technology (ICT) sector. The research aimed to understand why thisgroup chose to live in Nairobi and to describe Nairobi's quality of place, with aparticular focus on infrastructure disruption. Overall, the Western city is the referencepoint for Creative Class literature and quality of place is embedded within a frameworkof urbanisation through industrialisation - a period known as the first urbanisationwave. The fastest growing cities on the African continent (Nairobi included) are part ofthe second urbanisation wave, an urbanisation process spurred by a set of vastlydifferent dynamics in which industrialisation is virtually inconsequential. Urbanisationthrough industrialisation induced concomitant investments into infrastructure and thusit is unsurprising that the Creative Class literature assumes that urban infrastructure is'always on' – available at all times as an inherent attribute of place. The point of thestudy was not to draw modernist comparisons, but rather to emphasise that notions ofquality of place are incomplete given the rise of technological innovation in urbanAfrica, where cities often suffer from disruption of basic infrastructure. Until morerecently, African cities did not feature in the Creative Class literature; thepredominantly rural focus of ICT diffusion in the literature is a contributing factor to thelack of information on the Creative Class in African cities. The case study revealedthat Nairobi's quality of place is fundamentally different to normative prescriptionsgiven to urban planners and, in some instances, is highly frustrating and unattractive.Contrary to Florida's theory, those interviewed were not leaving Nairobi in search ofcities with higher quality of place attributes or better infrastructure provision –individuals were rooted to the city because of their work and the professional networkswith which they were associated.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University