In the past 30 years, culture has been used as a means for revitalising neighbourhoods and branding the urban economy. Often, culture-led urban policies have had undesirable consequences in terms of rising rents, displacement of former residents and changes in the economic and retail landscape, i.e. gentrification. However, this process is not univocal, and displacement may not occur while disrupting community life. In this paper we explore the changes that have occurred in San Francisco, a working-class neighbourhood of Bilbao where the attraction of cultural industries has been used to revitalise the area and change the city image. We employ a framework that considers the built form, the cultural cluster organisation and the socioeconomic and demographic changes and we rely on different sources of evidence, including neighbourhood level socioeconomic data, personal interviews and a participatory evaluation, to capture the edges of this complex phenomenon. Our analysis suggests a less deterministic and more complex characterisation of culture-led neighbourhood transformations beyond the revitalisation/gentrification discourses, since conflicts may be driven not by economic transformations and social class replacement, but by the symbolic representation of space and the ‘right to the neighbourhood’.
Efforts to promote infill development and to raise densities are growing in many cities around the world as a way to encourage urban sustainability. However, in cities polarized along socio-economic lines, the benefits of densification are not so evident. The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the contradictions of densification in Santiago de Chile, a city characterized by socio-spatial disparities. To that end, we first use regression analysis to explain differences in density rates within the city. The regression analysis shows that dwelling density depends on the distance from the city center, socioeconomic conditions, and the availability of urban attributes in the area. After understanding the density profile, we discuss the implications for travel and the distribution of social infrastructures and the environmental services provided by green areas. While, at the metropolitan scale, densification may favor a more sustainable travel pattern, it should be achieved by balancing density rates and addressing spatial differences in the provision of social services and environmental amenities. We believe a metropolitan approach is essential to correct these spatial imbalances and to promote a more sustainable and socially cohesive growth pattern.
The literature on the relationship between the built environment and travel has identified population density and the mix of land uses as key characteristics of the urban form that affect travel patterns. However, in cities with strong sociospatial disparities it is not clear if these characteristics apply in the same way. In this paper we use regression analysis to estimate the influence of the spatial growth pattern of Santiago, Chile, on the environmental impact of commuting. Our findings can be summarized in three points: The travel impact increases as the city spreads out because of the monocentric nature of Santiago; the environmental impact of commuting could be reduced by containing commuters within the area where they live; and the use of public transport reduces the impact, but the modal choice depends not only on the effectiveness of the transport system but also on the characteristics of the urban form and other socioeconomic determinants. Consequently, we propose to reorient the growth pattern in three ways: redirecting land-use policy to promote development within the already built area, developing compact areas where residential and economic activities are mixed, and facing sociospatial disparities as a way to encourage the use of public transport. This would reduce the environmental impact of commuting while, at the same time, tackling sociospatial segregation.
En este trabajo analizamos el sector cultural y creativo de la CAPV para entender su peso dentro de la economía vasca, su evolución en los últimos ocho años y su distribución espacial, a partir de los datos estadísticos del Eustat. Nuestro análisis muestra que las industrias culturales y creativas representan el 5,7% de las empresas vascas, un porcentaje superior al del Estado y similar al de Cataluña. Además, el peso de este sector se ha mantenido relativamente estable durante los años de recesión, lo que da muestra de su dinamismo. En cuanto a la distribución espacial, las industrias culturales se concentran en las ciudades y algunas comarcas con una fuerte tradición cultural. Las causas de este patrón de localización parecen estar tanto en la demanda, por la cercanía a los consumidores, como en el lado de la oferta, en la medida en que la dotación de infraestructuras, la presencia de otros productores y la diversidad que caracterizan a las ciudades favorecen la creación cultural.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.