OECD Culture and Local Development.pdf - PACA

3. PROMOTING LOCAL DEVELOPMENT BY CREATING CULTURAL PRODUCTS
The dynamics of districts and their implications for local development
The districts examined are often those that have retained the specific nature of
their expertise and their products. They may well have redeployed these to produce
or make use of certain resources, but essentially their ongoing expertise is the key
factor for their survival. This stability and their essential expertise can be combined
with changes in the technologies employed and, of course, in the types of products,
if only to keep up with market trends. If we consider their entrepreneurial makeup,
the changes can be noticeable. Where there were once many artisans or workshops,
we may now find only one firm, while in other places the diversity of establishments
has not been erased by concentration. These dual transformations of products and
of establishments are interrelated and can represent a threat to the cultural district’s
long-term survival. Standardisation of products may occur simultaneously with
concentration of the industrial fabric, even if some big manufacturers continue to turn
out high-quality goods.
The dynamics of culture and creative arts districts can be represented by the
following graph (Table 3.3.), where the degree of business concentration in the district
is shown along the horizontal (x) axis. The further one moves along that axis the higher
becomes the degree of concentration, until at the limit there is only one firm left. The
Table 3.3. The dynamics of cultural districts
Degree of product standardisation
y
2
3
A
1
0
Degree of concentration
x
vertical (y) axis represents the degree of product standardisation, which departs
increasingly from the arts-and-crafts ideal. The further we move along that axis, the
greater the degree of standardisation of the product, with generic skills gradually
replacing specific know-how, until at the limit the product is so uniform that it can be
produced by an assembly line.
CULTURE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - ISBN 92-64-00990-6 - © OECD 2005 111