Rosario's recent story as regards innovation

This paper wants to contribute to the discussion on the Congress theme (“making spaces for the creative economy”) by presenting a particular Case Study: the story of Rosario (Santa Fe Province, Argentina) as regards this problem. The Case will be presented both as an experience already lived by that local community (in political, technical, and cultural terms) and in terms of challenges to be faced. Answers to the following questions are sought through this Case presentation, also: · Which is the value and the meaning of expressions such as “creative economy”, “creative city”, and “innovation” in a developing society? · Which is the concept of “development” from which the problem is faced and the Case is analysed? The general hypothesis that will guide the paper is this: in the developing world major cities, and particularly metropolitan areas, appear to have a special capacity to become innovative milieus. In that type of environments there seems to flourish a synergy that stimulates the existence of innovation, usually greater than that found in settlements specifically created with that purpose. From this standpoint, the Rosario Case fits absolutely. This city, undoubtedly a metropolis, has carried out since the late 1980’s a process of innovation –as regards the public policies- which has allowed it to become a point of reference both at the national and the regional (supra-national) levels. Ultimately, that has generated a particularly attractive environment for the location of a diversity of projects fuelled by private initiative. The paper will try to bring into relief, in the first place, Rosario’s achievements in its attempts (not always conscious or “programmatic”) to produce innovation. In order to do that, the city’s history will be reviewed, identifying the specific modes that the local innovation process –regarding public policies- has adopted, and underlining the role played in that process by those components more directly related to physical planning. After that, and relying on the definition of that “asset” of experiences and on the answers sketched to the questions posed before, an attempt will be made to draw lessons in relation to the challenges faced by Rosario.