Author(s):
Elizabeth Currid, PhD* - University of Southern California
Sarah Williams* - Columbia University
Abstract:
Social scientists in disciplines as far flung as geography, economics and sociology have sought to understand the social and economic dynamics of the cultural production system. Such research makes clear the importance of the social milieu to the cultural industries. Much of this research is ethnographically and theoretically based. We seek to capture aggregate patterns of the social milieu of cultural industries and the geographical form they take. We use a unique data set, Getty Images, to quantify these social dynamics. We geo-coded over 6000 events and 300,000 photographic images taken in Los Angeles and New York City, and conducted GIS and spatial statistics to analyze macro geographical patterns of cultural industries' social milieus. This research has produced four important results: 1) Social milieus have nonrandom spatial clustering tendencies 2) These clustering tendencies may reinforce themselves as each social event further brands particular locations as sites of cultural activity 3) "Event enclaves" demonstrate homogeneous spatial patterns across all cultural industries 4) Infrastructure and the establishment of "iconic" geographic nodes may partially explain why some places are important consumption sites. We argue that those not conventionally involved in city development (paparazzi, marketers, media) have unintentionally played a significant role in city development. We argue that our findings on the cultural industries may tell us something important about the geographical form of industrial social clustering more generally. We believe the use of Getty data provides a new spatial dimension through which to understand both cultural industries and city geographical patterns.
