The 'new' New York scene: How and why fashion, art and music happen in New York City

There is no greater home to creativity than New York City. Once heralded as a bastion of industrial and then financial prowess, NYC has become a leading player in the post-industrial global creative economy, an economy that relies on the innovation, ideas and creativity of human capital.But what is creativity, how does it happen and why does it happen where it does? Despite the importance of creativity to regional economies, the very institutions and networks that are essential to the creative economy have not yet been explored or understood and are often written off as superficial, silly or just shades of Sex and the City. Creativity, in the sense that most of us think of it---fashion, art, music---is dismissed as frivolous, extraneous and unimportant. These industries are often clumped together as "amenities" or "entertainment" rather than as one of the fundamental drivers of overall economic prosperity.Through the use of detailed Census and industry data from 1790-2004, I argue that art and culture are essential in providing not just jobs and revenue but also NYC's competitive advantage against other metropolitan and global cities.Further, it is in its social life that the creative economy operates most efficiently. Much of creativity happens in particular places, from graffiti on subway trains to art debates at Max's Kansas City and the thriving punk scene at CBGBs to fashion after-parties at Bungalow 8. The dense bohemian creative scene and the institutions that support it have been nodes where ideas are exchanged and collaborations are established, further enhancing NYC's artistic and cultural community and its position in the global creative economy.This dissertation explores the different dynamics that are intricate in the process of creativity and the role of geography in how creative communities and their production systems emerge. Creative producers and the creative economy do not rely on the same rules, institutions, and agglomeration patterns that scholars have mapped out for industrial production systems.