Observing the Frame of Creative Clusters/Groups : A Case Study of Historic Districts in Tainan City

The concept of “creative city” has been a popular topic today. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization launched the “creative cities network”, and divided it into seven categories: media arts, literature, crafts, folk art, music, gastronomy, film, and design in 2004. Most of historic districts in Taiwan have met the creative atmosphere. The transition from historical districts to creative streets may have been taking shape. However, innovation and development of historic blocks focus more on economic development and tourism industry. The creative atmosphere in the old streets cannot be demonstrated. This study observes the process of shaping of creative clusters and proposes some phenomena. It adopts the method of “case studies” and selects “Xinyi Street of historical district” in old five channels cultural zone of Tainan City, Taiwan as a subject. The result of this paper hopes to provide a kind of observable perspective in the old street transformation, and make contribution to the future development of Taiwan’s historic districts.