Beyond the Creative City brand: exploring creative city-making in Winnipeg Manitoba

Abstract

This thesis explores the intersection between city planning in Winnipeg, Manitoba and branding the city as a creative city, by examining several key Winnipeg planning documents, which are interpreted as enacting the collective drive to develop - and brand - Winnipeg as a Creative City. Inspired in particular by the work of Charles Landry, this study reveals how Winnipeg’s creative city identity and approach is actively crafted and defined through local planning discourses. The research seeks to expand and enrich the dialogue around the creative city, using a creative city-making framework, to encourage a more holistic and inclusive approach to what rates as a creative city, and what merits recognition as creative and creativity in a city planning context. Some of the creative themes found in Winnipeg of interest to planners include a commitment to collaboration, integration, participation and the desire to operationalize creativity within municipal governance.