Culture, creativity and commerce: trajectories and tensions in the case of Beijing's 798 Art Zone

The use of cultural and creative clusters to achieve regeneration outcomes is now common practice in cities world-wide. However, clear evidence is lacking on the effectiveness of such approaches, particularly where they would appear to be based on the primacy of short-term economic aims. The case of Beijing’s 798 Art Zone is illustrative of a creative cluster which has achieved outcomes in terms of city branding and tourism, as well as property value and rent level increases, but which has also suffered from the negative effects of gentrification and related dilution of creative production activity. This provides lessons for other cultural clusters in China and beyond.