Whenever a question of public policy is addressed, heated arguments ensue. Liberals tout one solution, conservatives another, and still others appear who are neither liberal nor conservative but have their own desired solution. In such a heated political atmosphere, legislators and policy makers need to creatively balance competing factions and wants. This book looks at the practical application of creativity in a broad set of policy areas. The chapters take note of diverse topics like merit treatment, technology, vouchers, and budgeting, while also offering theoretical studies of the concept of creativity and its potential in the coming years. Concluding the book is a bibliography of books about creativity.

Main section headings: Creativity: Capacity for Adaptive and Innovative Behaviour; Teachers' Beliefs About Creativity; Constraints and Creativity: Experiments in Art and Psychology; Creative Thoughts: 32 Traits of Creative People; Creativity, Conflict and Courage; The Social Construction of Creative Children; Process, Personality and Persistence; Crawford Slip Method to Ideas Unlimited: Years of Creativity and Problem Solving; Neuropsychological Bases of Creativity; Teaching Creativity; Index.

Handbook of Policy Creativity, Volume 1 - Creativity at the Cutting Edge

Creativity has become a popular buzzword in contemporary cultural policy, yet the term remains poorly understood. In this collection, cultural policy specialists together with experts on psychology, creative enterprise and arts education, consider how ‘creativity’ is defined in a variety of settings, from ‘creative management’ to ‘creative labour’. The starting point of the book is to move beyond the notion that creativity is simply a product of extraordinary individuals and extraordinary thinking. In reality creativity draws together apparently contradictory thinking styles, processes and purposes which extend well beyond the mythical figure of the solitary genius. This broad definition of creativity encompasses the contributions of managers, entrepreneurs and intermediaries to the creative process as well as the creativity of consumers and schoolchildren. In turn this implies a broad definition of cultural policy, taking in intellectual property law, education policy and corporate governance as well as policies towards the arts and creative industries. This collection of articles offers new ways of thinking about creativity and about cultural policy. It will be of interest not only to students and practitioners of cultural policy but to anyone who is curious about the value and purpose of ‘creativity’ in contemporary culture. This book was originally published as a special issue of International Journal of Cultural Policy.

"This entirely updated and enlarged Second Edition of a landmark reference/text continues to provide comprehensive coverage of every important aspect of policy studies--discussing concepts, methods, utilization, formation, and implementation both internationally and across each level of government."

Covers the methods, substance and process of public policy.

This book critically analyses how cultural and educational policies construct creativity through a range of concepts and compares this against the open and expansive idea of creativity as experienced by individuals in society more broadly. The book draws on empirical data, case-study examples, and ethnographic motifs to identify the discursive construction of creativity and the way in which discourses of creativity are enfolded into narratives of progress in cultural policy. Along with auto-ethnographical perspectives, chapters apply a rich conceptualisation of Foucault and Agamben’s work to contemporary questions and issues in education alongside recent policies and lived experiences from teachers. Exploring ideas of both fixed and expansive creativity, the volume argues that education policy and cultural policy are neoliberalised and that creativity is shaped in schools by regulative schooling systems, but ultimately identifies how individuals enact creative practices that subvert and disrupt neoliberal narratives and limited appropriations. This book will be of great interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of education policy, creativity studies, and education politics. Those interested in arts education or in intersections between education and the writings of Foucault and Agamben more broadly will also find the book of value.

As the largest ever Australian government investment in creative industries development, the Creative Industries Innovation Centre delivered tailored business services to more than 1500 creative businesses from 2009 to 2015 and provided industry intelligence and advice for public policy and peak sectoral activity. This collection gives an overview of the current ‘state of business’ in Australia’s creative industries – both as an industry sector in its own right and as an enabling sector and skills set for other industries – and reflects on business needs, creative industries policy and support services for the sector. With contributions from the Centre’s team of senior business advisers and from leading Australian researchers who worked closely with the Centre –including experts on design-led innovation and the creative economy – and case studies of leading Australia creative businesses, the book is intended as and industry-relevant contribution to business development and public policy. Content links to the publicly accessible Creative Industries Innovation Centre Collection Archive at the UTS Library, which holds material from Centre’s activities over its six years of operation.

This book project highlights creative approaches to planning and local development. The dynamic complexity, diversity and fluidity which characterize contemporary society represent challenges for planning and development endeavours. While research and policy work has extensively focused on large cities and on metropolitan regions, there has been relatively little work on ‘smaller places’. This book shows that if these new challenges affect all places and regions, small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) are suffering many specific problems that call imperatively for the design and implementation of very imaginative, creative approaches to planning and local development. What could enhance creativity in local development and planning? Is it possible to talk about creative capacity building at the level of a town that might release imaginative and innovative activities? Under what local and non-local conditions is creativity being initiated and flourishing? What are the major obstacles and in what way can these be contained in order to safeguard pockets of creative action? Interdisciplinary and with case studies from France, Norway and other European countries, this volume presents a wide range of approaches and territorial contexts of small cities and towns in which spatial dynamics and the consequences of the city-region for urban planning theory and practice in Europe are highlighted, with a special focus on the challenges for - and understanding of - planning and development of SMSTs. It provides a significant body of critical, comparative and contextual perspectives on the quest for urban sustainability and resilience in SMSTs, therefore emphasizing collaborative and potentially innovative approaches that can be detected, but also the shortcomings, pitfalls and 'traps' that can lie behind the approaches aimed at concerting ecological, economic, and socio-cultural concerns, and the discourses promoting them.