Cultural districts and the challenge of authenticity: the case of Piedmont, Italy

Abstract

Despite the globalizing nature of contemporary cultural artefacts, in many cases creativity seems to be still very much grounded in local geographic, social and economic contexts. In particular, many authors have recently highlighted the increasing relevance of local cultural districts. This article tries to investigate how and why certain public policies could be more effective in developing an area into a cultural district. In doing so, we will analyse the case of Piedmont's music district, particularly focusing on the role of public policies in its development, and interpreting the evidences through the theoretical perspective of authenticity.

Cultural economy and the creative field of the city

“…By the same token, the emergence of the new economy has been accompanied by a significant expansion in the number of workers endowed with high levels of human capital in regard to functions such as analytical thinking, judgement and decision-making, fluency of ideas, social perceptiveness, capacities for interaction with others, and imaginativeness, as well as in regard to substantive knowledge and expertise (in technology, medicine, business, policy analysis, the arts, and so on). nowhere have these changes been more evident than in the great metropolitan areas of the modern world, though many cities at the lower end of the urban hierarchy have also participated to greater or lesser degree in the same trends, as in the case of the small craft and cultural centres that abound in modern italy (for examples, see, Cuccia and Santagata 2002;aage and Belussi 2008;Mizzau and Montanari 2008). Small wonder, in the light of these observations, that topics such as creativity, innovation, human capital, the creative class, and creative cities, should have risen to the top of the research agendas of many geographers, regional scientists, and sociologists of late years.…”

A kulturális szolgáltatások kínálata közötti különbségek a magyarországi tízezer főfeletti városokban

“…Pratt (1997b) szerint az Egyesült Királyságban a kulturális iparág foglalkoztatottainak 26%-a Londonban, az Egyesült Államokban pedig 50%-a a nagyobb metropoliszokban koncentrálódik (Scott 2000). Scott (2010), Miszlivetz és Márkus (2013) is megállapították, hogy a kulturális és kreatív ipar által generált változások a leglátványosabbak a modern világ metropoliszaiban, de a városi hierarchia alsóbb szintjén elhelyezkedő városokban az is megfigyelhető, hogy követik a trendeket, mint például a kisebb kézműves és kulturális központok a modern Olaszországban (Cuccia and Santagata 2002, Mizzau and Montanari 2008idézi Scott 2010. A kreatív városokról szóló pozitív esettanulmányok javarészt nagyvárosokra és azok metropolisz régióira vonatkoznak (Ságvári-Dessewffy 2006, Scott 2000, ahol a kreatív gazdaság teljes gazdaságon belüli aránya akár a kétszeresére is megnőtt az 1990-es években, ez a kisebb városok számára is szolgálhat mintaként.…”

The Role of Non‐Technological Innovations in Services: The Case of Food Retailing

“…Beyond the managerial aspects attached to how food firms can develop competitive advantage through creative activities, the findings could have some implications for innovation policy and economic growth. Mizzau and Montanari () highlighted how, despite the globalizing nature of contemporary cultural artefacts, in many cases creativity seems to still be very much grounded in local geographic, social and economic contexts (e.g., local cultural districts). While their effort is addressed towards investigating how and why certain public policies could be more effective in developing an area into a cultural district, the current research could constitute the grounds to explore how food‐related policies can try and engage with the creative community in a more structured way, for instance, through the development of education programmes or professional schools (Cook & De Propris, ).…”