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capital (Beyers & Lindahl 2001; Boschma 2005; Gradus & Lithwick 1996; Selada et al. 2011). Petrov
(2007) identified creative ‘hot spots’ within peripheral regions of Canada. These areas are found to
have the potential to attract creative capital and compete nationally. In order for peripheries to
become ‘hot spots’ of innovation and economic growth there has to be a connection to localized
knowledge and social setting that can be formed with institution building and formation of civic
society (Aarsaether 2004; Petrov 2011).
If that is the case, the question would be whether and in what form the idea of development based
on local creative capital can be relevant and adaptable to the Arctic regions? A growing consensus
among scholars (and, increasingly, among policymakers) is that social and economic development
strategies in the Arctic must reconcile a postcolonial paradigm of the locally-oriented development
and realities of the contemporary capitalism (including pressures and competition imposed by
globalization). If one follows the argument of ‘constructive’ post-developmentalists (see Power
2003; Radcliffe 2005), an alternative development regime must be simultaneously based on emerging
traditions of the post-industrial society, post-Fordist capitalism, and the postcolonial paradigm. In
the Arctic regions, it also must be supplemented by the consensus between aboriginalism,
environmentalism, industrialism and nationalism (Hayter et al. 2003). This complex task, in terms of
regional policies, must result in ‘situatedness’, appreciation of local knowledge, promotion of local
initiative, devolution of control, development of a knowledge-based economy, and so forth.
In this respect, the alternative strategy based on utilizing local creative capital to foster economic
development appears to be appealing. As it is described below, there is preliminary evidence that
such a scenario can be seriously considered. However, any research into this matter faces the lack of
basic knowledge about the spatial distribution, characteristics and utilization of the creative capital,
as well as the lack of conceptual and methodological foundations for conducting such a study.
Sections below discuss theories and evidence that help to fill some of these important gaps.
Creative Capital and Economic Development in the Arctic: Theory
In a resource economy the physical value of a resource, not the amount of knowledge used for its
production,