What does a cultural district actually do? Critically reappraising 15 years of cultural district policy in Italy

Abstract

Culture-driven urban and regional strategies have grown since the 1980s in Europe and beyond. Countless initiatives for creative clusters, cultural quarters and culture-led urban policies have mushroomed since the mid-1990s. Being exceptionally rich and dense in cultural amenities and institutions, creative production and cultural consumption, Italy seemed to be the natural ground for such a cultural turn in policymaking. In fact, Italy has been the cradle for cultural districts (CDs) since the early 2000s, fostering both analytical and normative speculations and experiments. Despite this richness, a systematic study of CD policy implementation is lacking and several questions are still pending, in Italy as well as in other countries. For example, how diverse are the CD experiences being developed; and what are the aims and core activities, the urban and regional settings and development effects? This paper presents an original survey of 68 experimentations that were officially labelled as 'cultural districts' over the last 15 years in Italy: as such it constitutes the first attempt at a nationwide comprehensive analysis of CD policy. Even though the major importance of CDs as an analytical tool is acknowledged, the evidence gathered in this study shows the fuzziness and inconsistencies in the implementation of CD policy in Italy. The analysis shows the uneven regional geography of CDs, stresses the large variety of contents and promoters and high rate of failure, and the limited degree of specialization and integration with cultural industries. The paper reconsiders critically the policy notion and practice of CDs in Italy and calls for further international scholarly and policy debates.

Inside the system-wide cultural district: a new relational and organisational taxonomy of cultural districts based on the sector policies by Italian Regions (2000–2015)

“…The absence of a clear and transparent policy framework for culture and creativity at national level, is compensated for some extent by the regional policies which have favoured the insurgence of cultural districts on the whole national territory (Montella 2015;Ponzini 2016;Usai 2016a, b;Nuccio and Ponzini 2017).…”

“…Firstly, the political implications in the assignment of the district feasibility study to external consultants by administrators. Secondly, the attention devoted to the physical and tangible assets and to the beneficiaries of regeneration projects which has left the social and human capital owned by the district on the background (Ponzini et al 2014;Ferilli et al 2016Ferilli et al , 2017Ponzini 2016;Nuccio and Ponzini 2017). Finally, even if the idea behind the SWCD is clear, i.e.…”

“…They are the result of the old regional policies for culture or, instead, the outcome of some recent projects on cultural/tourist districts that were not able to evolve remaining at a rudimentary stage, as for the Distretto Culturale del Sud-Est (Cultural District of the South-East) in Sicily (Carta 2003). In the national landscape, only the DiT-BeCs and Puglia Creativa districts in Tuscany and Puglia can be defined SWCDs, while, the cultural districts funded by Fondazione Cariplo in Lombardy and, recently, by the Marche Region cannot be defined as such due to a multiple integration that mainly concern the public domain (Montella 2015;Ponzini 2016;Usai 2016a, b;Nuccio and Ponzini 2017).…”

“…Similarly to the EE, the SWCD needs a more rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis: the literature on district's performance concentrates mainly on the physical and tangible assets and on the beneficiaries of urban regeneration projects leaving on the background the forms of capital whose accumulation it facilitates (Howkins 2010;Belussi and Staber 2011;Sacco et al 2013a, b, c;Seddio 2013;Scott 2014;Ferilli et al 2016;Ponzini 2016;Nuccio and Ponzini 2017).…”

Regional Event Tourism Funding Policies: A Strategic-Relational Critique of Current Practice

“…Despite ostensibly similar aims, these policies differ widely in their approach with varying degrees of success. Although several case studies have been published (e.g., Garcia 2017; Nuccio and Ponzini 2017; Lee 2015; Tomljenovic and Weber 2004) a broader comparison of policies across different world regions is lacking (Getz 2008; Getz and Page 2016a).…”