Positioning in Mesoamerica as creative city: architecture, government and civic innovation

Abstract

Since the last years of the 20th century, theories and strategies associated
with “creative cities” have emerged which seek to use creativity as a key to progress. In parallel, a large number of governments around the world have established new urban design, experimentation and planning units within the public sector called “Urban Labs” or “Government Innovation Labs”. There is an incipient but accelerated interest to incorporate these tendencies into the plans of government and development of territories within the Mesoamerican region; yet, research is scarce (historical, conceptual and experiential) for this specific context. This investigation’s article begins by identifying the main historical aspects that have influenced internationally the transformation of creativity, innovation and the emergence of government laboratories; then, the variants
that have existed around the use of the concept of creative city (within urban strategies) are classified. Finally, learnings about practical strategies based on experimentation, design methodologies and architecture from government and within civic innovation strategies, exposing that one is facing a new paradigm (cultural, political, economic, social) of management, planning, and administration of the territories. It is based on a case study methodology for which the researcher joined the LabCDMX work team from where she gathered information, interviewed national and international actors, and was part of the daily practices of experimentation within the government of Mexico City to
later develop a deep process of analysis.