Affectionately named the Sea Capital of Bulgaria, Varna attracts many visitors with its rich cultural heritage and entertains its residents with its vibrant creative life. But how does Varna fit within the academic concept of the ‘creative city’? And does a place really need to earn this label in order to support creativity?
The Creative City: An Idea and Its Criticisms
According to Charles Landry, one of the most influential advocates of this vision, the creative city is a place which inspires and supports the artistic pursuits of creative people. In the introduction to his book on the subject, Landry stresses the role of ‘soft infrastructure’, namely public spaces which enable the interactions between a city’s residents and provoke their imagination, for the successful planning of such a location. In his somewhat utopian notion, the creative city is also characterized by a unique identity, hosts a variety of cultural events, and maintains a high quality of life for its inhabitants. Varna’s potential to fulfil these criteria is implied by Terry Flew’s assertion that ‘smaller cities can concentrate cultural resources more effectively than larger ones’.
Cities strive to be identified as creative in order to attract what Richard Florida terms ‘the creative class’, namely a segment of the population whose professional occupation requires artistic skills or creative problem-solving. According to Florida, the members of the creative class fuel the economy and attract or create jobs in the places they choose to inhabit. For him, the most important qualities of the creative city are the swift integration of new technology, a great number of talented people with undergraduate degrees, and a tolerant and diverse society.
But this ambitious concept has been criticized by Andy C. Pratt as a branding initiative which benefits only a segment of a city’s population and threatens the indigenous identity of places by promoting international instead of local culture. Further, the adoption of Florida’s vision has contributed to greater inequalities in the world’s largest cities and harmed creative people from poorer backgrounds.
So how does Varna fit into this idealistic but problematic idea?
Varna: A Creative City?
In their attempts to measure the creative potential of places, scholars have designed various point systems which allow them to compare and rank cities according to their fulfilment of a set of criteria. One of these is the European Union’s Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor, which looks at the ‘cultural vibrancy’, ‘creative economy’, and ‘enabling environment’ of cultural hotspots in the continent. Unsurprisingly, Varna scores low among cities with similar population, achieving below average results in each subcategory except ‘tourist overnight stays’ and ‘jobs in new arts, culture and entertainment enterprises’.
But in order to understand a city’s distinctive cultural and creative atmosphere, we need to look beyond the Western-centric ranking systems which could encourage urban uniformity around the world. The proximity between Varna’s central pedestrian area, recognizable for its early 20th century art nouveau architecture, and the historical Greek Quarter with its narrow alleyways and boutique art shops allows citizens to easily participate in both the mainstream and underground cultural life of the city. The Sea Garden, believed to be the largest park in the Balkan Peninsula, provides Varna’s residents with the opportunity to socialize in the open, while the city’s network of start-up cafés and live music venues serve as inspiring meeting places for its creative public. The city also supports artists by hosting many national and global cultural events every year, from the Varna Summer festivals of music, theatre, jazz, and folklore to the International Ballet Competition which takes place in the open-air Summer Theatre and the world film festival ‘Love is Folly’ in the Festival and Congress Centre.
Although Bulgaria’s Sea Capital might never earn the Western label of ‘creative city’, it is already a locus of culture which inspires daily creativity among its guests and residents.
Would you call Varna a creative city? Let me know in the comments down below!
CREATIVE CONVERSATION 