Creative clusters in the regeneration of Valletta and the cultural politics of Strait Street

The paper aims to unfold the narrative of development in a creative cluster project for the regeneration of Strait Street in Valletta, Malta. This is approached by first examining the distinctive, historically contentious background of the neighbourhood and, thereafter, unpacking the development narrative of policy documents and the discursive and material constructs about the creative city approach to regeneration strategies in the city. Using a ‘system-wide’ analytical framework, this material is then scrutinized to gain an understanding of the specificities involved and, finally, discuss the crucial features of the key dimensions elucidating the potential strengths and weaknesses of the case