OECD Culture and Local Development.pdf - PACA

1. USING A TERRITORY’S CULTURE TO PROMOTE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
recommend the intensive use of cultural practices as a kind of balm. In 1997, a Council
of Europe report painted a particularly rosy picture of such efforts:
In terms of direct effects, “the arts and culture provide ‘socially valuable’ leisure
activities, ‘elevate’ people’s thinking and contribute positively to their psychological
and social well-being and enhance their sensitivity.”
In terms of indirect effects, “the arts enrich the social environment with stimulating
or pleasing public amenities. They are a source of ‘civilising’ impacts and of social
organisation. Artistic activity, by stimulating creativity, …enhances innovation. Works
of art and cultural products are a collective ‘memory’ for a community and serve
as a reservoir of creative and intellectual ideas for future generations. Arts and
cultural institutions improve the quality of life and so in urban areas enhance
personal security and reduce the incidence of street crime and hooliganism.” 29 .
This view is shared by the British think tank Comedia, which published several
case studies on the social impact of culture, especially in urban settings, where it was
found to bring a number of benefits, such as enhancing social cohesion, improving
local image, reducing offending behaviour, developing self-confidence, and building
public and private sector partnerships (Reeves, 2002).
Taken literally, this euphoric view of culture and social problems is ambiguous.
There is nothing to guarantee that exposure to the same values will lead to their
acceptance. Things are not that automatic. Individuals react more instinctively and
with less discipline than we might think. They rely on a host of environmental signals,
they are more sensitive to certain symbols or signs than to others, and they often seek
to differentiate themselves from others (Molotch, 2003) 30 .
This systematic belief in the positive social effects of culture seems to assume
that there is a kind of implicit agreement on shared values, as if cultural counter currents
did not exist in societies, communities and territories 31 . Moreover, it is difficult to imagine
how cultural integration could exist in the absence of economic integration, as these
interpretations imply.
Experience with local development, particularly with problem neighbourhoods,
shows that successful integration depends as much on the workings of the labour market
as on cultural activities. Social integration without cultural integration is a feature of
situations where there is no unemployment but where at the same time inequalities
persist, particularly in cultural terms. On the contrary, there may be cases where lack
of social integration and strong cultural integration go hand-in-hand, for example
when unemployment and low living standards co-exist with the homogenisation of
cultural practices and aspirations. Cultural infrastructure in a sense works counter to
the market, and this creates severe difficulties: aspirations for equality, which are stronger
38 CULTURE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - ISBN 92-64-00990-6 - © OECD 2005