Conceptualizing Malaysian creative hubs: traversing normalcy to pandemicity and beyond

Creative hubs have garnered considerable attention as a viable place for creatives to cluster, network and bounce ideas for new cultural, creative and technological innovations. Despite this overtly recognized functionality, creative hubs are granularly variegated. There is a call to investigate its covert interior and not just its overt exterior. This paper attempts to unravel and make discernible the types of creative hubs in Malaysia, where the concept is still nascent. Fathoming this concept amid the Covid-19 pandemic is timely given the way digitalization has radically realtered the form and functionalities of Malaysian creative hubs. Based on semi-structured interviews with 6 hub managers and 95 brief interviews with hub members, this paper highlights the way Malaysian creative hubs negotiate their shifting meanings during normalcy, and further morphs amid pandemicity and beyond. The findings highlight that physical hubs are still important and community-driven organic hubs are resilient towards sustainable urban development.