This book challenges the new urban growth concepts of the creative class and creative industries from a critical urban theory perspective.

• Critiques Richard Florida's popular books about cities and the creative class
• Presents an alternative approach based on analyses of empirical research data concerning the German urban system and the case study regions, Hanover and Berlin
• Underscores that the culture industry takes a leading role in conforming with neoliberal conceptions of labor markets

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).