Journal of Futures Studies (10276084)21(3)pp. 35-48
Forecasts show less than desirable futures for human settlements in developing countries, both in cities and rural areas. Thus, it is necessary to identify effective approaches and strategies which can improve the futures of these human settlements. The Creative City Approach (Landry, 2008) has been designed to regenerate both the economic and the social structures of target cities. The Creative Village Approach, which is based on the Creative Cities framework, is an innovative approach for the endogenous development of rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive definition of the Creative Village and the rural creative class too, and to determine key factors influencing the development of the Creative Village. The influence and impact levels of key factors are then investigated using Mic Mac software, with the results of direct and indirect influence levels assessed. Analysis demonstrates that the factors of 'vision' (with an impact level of nine points), 'risk-taking' (with an impact level of six points) and 'village space' (with an impact level of six points) were critically important to the development of the Creative Village. Factors such as 'participation' (with an impact level of four points) and 'social cohesion and relationships' (with an impact level of two points) were key primary variables and also had high levels of influence in the establishment of Creative Village communities.
