Public governance and creative economy dynamics: Towards an integrated conceptual understanding

The growing prominence of the creative economy in urban development and cultural policy has intensified debates on how public governance mediates economic, social and territorial change. Although public governance, the creative economy and tourism are increasingly intertwined in practice, academic research has often examined these domains through fragmented and sector-specific perspectives, treating governance as contextual rather than as a central analytical mechanism. Against this background, this study analyses how the academic literature addresses the relationship between public governance and the creative economy in urban and cultural contexts where tourism operates as a key field of application. It adopts an integrated, variable-oriented systematic review approach, combining structured literature screening with textual and conceptual analyses to enable a relational reading across governance, creative economy and tourism research. The findings show that these domains are mainly connected through policy-led frameworks shaping tourism-related urban development, sustainability strategies, social innovation and cultural dynamics. The literature also reveals a gradual shift towards participatory and multilevel governance models, alongside persistent challenges related to cultural instrumentalisation, precarious creative labour and fragile governance arrangements, particularly in urban settings. By providing a critical and integrated synthesis, this review advances debates on urban governance and creative policymaking globally.