A creative-class perspective on the ripple effects of Innovation Cities: Comparative study of Naju, Wonju, and Jinju, South Korea

This study explores the long-term ripple effects of South Korea’s Innovation City policy from a creative-class perspective. Given the time elapsed since the policy’s implementation, the study moves beyond conventional short-term economic metrics to assess whether the policy fostered sustainable regional competitiveness. Further, this study uses shift-share analysis and creative-class indicators to identify patterns across Innovation Cities and to examine Naju, Wonju, and Jinju as illustrative cases. The findings suggest that cities with stronger preexisting endogenous strengths, particularly in terms of creative-class competitiveness, were more likely to achieve positive long-term outcomes. This study highlights the importance of endogenous regional strengths in sustaining regional competitiveness and shows that the creative class can serve as a useful benchmark for urban policy evaluation.