This chapter considers the use of creativity within urban development. It traces the genesis of the turn to culture and creativity in urban development to the Scottish city of Glasgow, the first city to use the European City of Culture designation within an urban entrepreneurial paradigm. From this, it tracks the emergence of creative city discourse within the ‘cultural turn’ in UK left politics, where creativity became a key discourse. The chapter then traces how the creative city theory, which emerged from this, melded with the alluring creative class thesis which became hegemonic within urban policies in the early 2000s. The chapter then uses the city of Liverpool as a case study in adopting this approach. Liverpool’s strategy illustrates how creative city approaches can have successes in terms of urban rebranding, market-led development and generation of primarily service sector employment. However, those cities who have adopted this strategy also have the most entrenched social and spatial polarisation. The chapter ends by illustrating how this polarisation has resulted in these policies being rejected and resisted in various ‘creative cities’.