In order to strengthen their status in a global competition of ‘creative’ and ‘music cities’, urban policy-makers often focus their attention on the public perception outside and prestigious projects inside of cities – via marketing campaigns and sensational new building projects like concert halls and opera houses. In this article, Robin Kuchar takes the case of Hamburg to discuss the relation of music production and current urban development programmes. By comparing conditions and needs of music production with current developments in urban restructuring and valorisation in the city of Hamburg, his analysis highlights a dichotomy between the social processes of cultural production and a neoliberal attitude towards city development that restricts the evolution of music scenes and existing communities of artistic production.