ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the political economy of London culture, including aspects of government and governance. It discusses the uses of culture as a development instrument on the part of the central state, as well as the interactions between cultural economy firms and actors and the local state in an era of globalization, insistent restructuring and neo-liberalism. The emergence of a new cultural economy of the city over the past two decades is associated in part with the legacies of post-industrialism. Markusen presents a critique of Richard Florida's creative class thesis on the grounds of political economy. There are important policy applications for the cultural economy in each of the principal domains such as spatial planning, urban design planning, and social and community development planning. The chapter demonstrates the importance of culture and creativity in the contemporary urban agenda through a review of the literature and instructive case studies.
