Cities, the information society and the creative industries : an analysis of the core media related creative industries in Salvador, Bahia

In the late 90’s the creative industries emerged as a new concept to aggregate industries whose products were primarily based on creative inputs and were subject to intellectual property. In the field of media studies, the creative industries emerges as an attempt to understand a segmented and convergent media environment, and account for the impacts of new technologies of information and communication on society. The creative industries are considered key industries in the information society due to its reliance on knowledge and information. As a consequence many countries, regions and cities adopted plans and strategies to attract and/or develop creative industries in their territories hoping to foster local economic development. This adoption is evident not only at core cities and regions, but also at non-core places that are hoping to become a significant node in the information society. This dissertation investigates such a case of a non-core city, via the analysis of the core media related creative industries in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The analysis of Salvador’s core media related creative industries indicates the importance of the logic of proximity/agglomeration and concentration for the creative industries, and also indicates how a non-core city incorporates the concept the creative industries and the media related creative industries into its development planning and economic development strategy.