2. ARC Discovery mapping and investigating
experiences of creative industries workers in outer
suburbs of Brisbane and Melbourne .
Aligns with Gibson, Brennan-Horley and Luckman’s
work in Sydney and Darwin (2006 -09.)
Do “Creative City” (Florida 2002, Landry2000) policy
and discourse overlook what’s happening in the
outer suburbs?

3. Places of greater social,
cultural and economic
complexity
Major shifts in
demography from 1980s
Rezoning created denser
suburbs, large -scale
developments some are -
“mini inner cities”

4. Australia’s fastest growing city from 1994 –
2007, grew by 31.7%
Shift in status from ‘cultural backwater’
Large scale cultural infrastructure during
growth period, predominantly in inner
metropolitan region

8. 40 in-depth interviews from a cross-section of
creative workers from the `industrial’ to the
`artisan’
Eg: multi-media developers, architects,
advertisers, graphic designers, fashion
designers, musicians and visual artists
Decision makers

9.  Affordability
 Relationship between place and creative
work
 Networking beyond the inner-city

10. Affordability of housing and business
premises or workshop
Good for clients as businesses were able to
keep fees lower than inner city competitors
Technology and good roads to some extent,
offset distance between clients located in
inner city

11. Space imperative : for individual artists and
musicians, most worked from home studios
or purchased industrial sheds.
Lifestyle factors enabling comfortable
combination of family and work

16. In what way does the environment
influence people’s creativity?

17. Place as aesthetic resource for artists
Slower pace and freedom from distractions
facilitated creativity

18. Professional and social networks identified as
central to success of the creative economy
(Florida, 2002, Kong 2005, Pratt 2007)
Distance from city, commuting time =
reflective, creative time
Emphasis on networks in inner metropolitan
regions in the literature (as above)

19. ‘Industrial’ (SME’s) networks are business
focussed
`Artisans ‘ networks support their creative
practice, develop skills , community
engagement
Most active among age 18-24 and 24 - 39

20.  High value placed on face-to-face interaction
 Distance from CBD a limitation for
commercial creatives.
 Local business networking not always seen
as useful
 Limitations of places to meet: local shops and
galleries, houses used as hubs

22. I miss a lot of networking.
I missed one last night and I missed one last Friday…
Friday night traffic and I‘d been working in a school all
day, I was too tired to make the trip. But had I made the
trip I‘d have met the publisher of ABC books, the new
publisher, and could have got a job out of it, but I
couldn‘t make it. So the distance…impacts on your
work.
Illustrator, Frankston.

23. ‘I used to belong to the Design Institute of
Australia but then I just found I wasn’t getting
enough out of it… a lot of the events are very city-
focused. I don’t think it caters for businesses
outside of that central city hub.’
Graphic designer, Frankston
‘there’s not much of a draw card really to be with them
here.’ Graphic designer, Redcliffe

24. Research corroborates Gibson and Brennan-Horley’s
study
Implications for networking, participants generally
are active networkers, despite limitations. Lack of
meeting places or hubs perceived as an obstacle.
Lifecycle and lifestyle factors inform peoples
decision about location of business/work.