In Defense of Old Industrial Spaces: Manufacturing, Creativity and Innovation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

This article argues that the flexibility, creativity, and innovation deemed to be hallmarks of the new 'creative' economy are also present in more traditional manufacturing enclaves. Here I use examples drawn from New York City, perhaps the quintessential global city, to demonstrate that our understanding of creativity and innovation needs to recognize a broader spectrum of economic activity encompassing both new and traditional manufacturing. This case study is an attempt to expand the heteronomy of current urban policy that promotes gentrification and the wooing of the 'creative class' as the only method of urban development. Resume Souplesse, creativite et innovation, censees etre les traits distinctifs de la nouvelle economie 'creative', existent egalement dans des enclaves industrielles plus traditionnelles. Des exemples sont tires de la ville de New-York, sans doute la ville planetaire par excellence, afin de demontrer que notre comprehension de la creativite et de l'innovation a besoin d'etendre son spectre de l'activite economique afin d'englober des fabrications tant nouvelles que traditionnelles. Cette etude de cas tente d'accroitre l'heteronomie de la politique urbaine actuelle, laquelle encourage la gentrification et la seduction de la 'classe creative' comme unique methode de developpement urbain.