Stefan Krätke is Professor of Economic and Social Geography at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt, Germany. He is the author of a wide variety of publications, in both German and English, that include The Metropolization of the European Urban System in the Era of Globalization (2007) and City of Talents? Berlin's Regional Economy, Socio-spatial Fabric and 'Worst Practice' Urban Governance (2004).

• Introduction. 1. Creativity and innovation under the command of capital.The capitalist imperative of creativity and innovation.Generalizing models of urban economic development.The role of innovation and inter-urban competition in Harvey’s theory of capitalist urbanization.Conclusion.2. Creative cities as a new urban growth ideology.The impact of creative occupations on regional economic success.Introduction.Critique of Florida’s conception of the creative class.An assessment of regional economic success factors and the impact of creative workers on regional development.The impact of creative occupational groups on regional economic development in Germany.Relationship between ‘qualities of place’ and the regional concentration of scientifically and technologically creative workers.Conclusion.3. Innovation and knowledge networks in a metropolitan region.The impact of localization economies and networking on technological creativity.Introduction.Innovation and knowledge networks: Theoretical approaches.The application of network analysis to urban regions’ knowledge networks.Geographic scales and structural properties of knowledge networks in the metropolitan region of Hanover.Assessment of network impacts on regional firms’ innovation output.Conclusion.4. Creativity in the culture and media industries.The impact of commercial imperatives on artistic creativity.Introduction.The institutional order of the cultural economy: Creativity in a capitalist context.Global centres of the culture industry and the production of lifestyle images.Conclusion.5. Local clustering of the cultural economy in the metropolis of Berlin.The urbanization economies of artistically creative occupations.Introduction.The rise of the cultural economy in Berlin’s inner-city area.Creative cities and the role of the culture industries in urban economic and spatial development: Implications for urban regeneration.Conclusion.6. Synthesis: The creative capital of cities.References.Appendix.Index.