Navigating Creative City: Art students' perception and professional integration in Paris

This paper examines the concept of "creative city" through the experiences of art students in Paris, acting as both cultural consumers and active contributors to the urban creative ecosystem. It explores how urban environments foster creativity through cultural infrastructure, "creative buzz", utilitarian and symbolic values of place. The research investigates students' perceptions of creative locations in Paris, the specific attributes inspiring their creativity, and the challenges they face in professional development within the city's creative scenes. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys and semi-structured interviews with art students, to understand their interpretations and navigation of Paris's creative geographies.