The “creative industry” displays a striking preference for the city, but what practical advantages does an urban working environment offer the creative industry in terms of successful economic activity? This study aims to answer that question by empirically researching the “creative fields” of product design and communications.

Obvious advantages – such as short commuting distances, diversity, and interaction – point to interesting environmental qualities – such as physical proximity, density, anonymity, and openness – as ideal prerequisites, specifically for creative work – such as stimulation, feedback, and work-life balance. The complex urban environment acts not only as an inspirational backdrop for the creative, but also as a challenging arena in which to prove one's self. Additionally, it provides a motivational setting, which promotes the authenticity and identity of the creative individual and their product, especially with regard to the urban consumer, the context of use, and the particular demands made by that context. The bounty of the unknown, the foreign, and the surprising in inner-city spaces allows for spontaneous communication about “shared life experiences” and unconventional new interpretations of common objects and relationships.

This center of “creative” action provides an impetus for contemporary, “original” products. In return, inner-city spaces are just as exciting as they are relaxing, that is to say they are normatively open to an impartial working dialogue, and the favorable working conditions for such do not appear to be arbitrarily interchangeable.

English Title: Why Are Creative Individuals So Keen to Work in the City? – The practical relevance of preference for the city in terms of creative economic activity