OECD Culture and Local Development.pdf - PACA

INTRODUCTION
- the one where culture influences the behaviour of a territory’s actors,
- the one where culture contributes to a territory’s development by attracting visitors
and tourists,
- and the one where culture contributes to the creation of products that will be
exported and normally consumed outside the territory itself.
Chapters 2 and 3 will deal with these perspectives. They are followed by a chapter
that discusses the strategic role that culture has acquired in defining the nature and
profile of present-day cities.
Chapter 1 highlights the impact of culture on behaviour in a given territory. It treats
culture as a set of values, norms or benchmarks that guide and shape of the behaviour
of individuals and communities. This chapter considers three possible contributions
of culture to a territory’s development. The first concerns modes of cooperation and
organisation among players for mobilising the territory’s resources. The second has
to do with players’ attitudes towards the creation of projects and activities. The third
concerns the role of culture in integrating individuals or communities who are excluded
or marginalised, and thus promoting sustainable local development.
Chapter 2 takes the conventional approach to analysing the effects of culture on
local development, which sees the source of development in the ability of cultural
activities to attract tourists and visitors. This chapter discusses the principal analytical
tools used for calculating these effects: contingent valuation, impact studies, multiplier
effects, etc. It then highlights the relative importance of different types of cultural activities
for local development: heritage buildings, museums, live performances, festivals, art
fairs, landscapes, etc. It also demonstrates that the conclusions of these analyses often
err on the side of optimism, and it points out their limits and their methodological
assumptions.
Chapter 3 substantially revises this conventional approach by stressing the role
of culture in the preparation of cultural goods that are produced within a territory for
export and consumption abroad. It shows why these cultural goods are linked to a
specific territory and why we find clusters of such activities in some territories rather
than others, a point that brings us to the consideration of “cultural districts”. It
illustrates the variety of these districts, and of the conditions required for them to
be sustainable.
Chapter 4 is devoted to the role of culture in urban organisation. The contemporary
urban fabric reveals the systematic use of cultural resources to improve living
conditions, the environment or even the image of a city. This cultural fabric of the city
takes on different aspects, depending on its inherited makeup. In some cases, it involves
22 CULTURE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - ISBN 92-64-00990-6 - © OECD 2005