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of innovation and territorial development— and the creative class approach —
which rather places this stimulation role on the creative people, the so-called “creative
class”. According to the latter, creative people choose their location in response to
features of the urban environment.Therefore cities should play on three main factors
identified by Florida as “talent, tolerance and technology” to attract people that will
in turn bring new jobs into the territory.
However, such theoretical models have mainly focused on big cities and metropolises
and only recently the specificities of SMSC have been taken into account for
modelling the theoretical basis of local policies and the notion of “creative city”.
The notion of culture-led development:
As further detailed in the section “Arts for economic development” (p.27),
culture has been acknowledged to bring a range of positive economic benefits,
helping cities to revitalise their economy thanks to heritage, cultural events and
institutions.The latter have been increasingly taken into account to improve cities’
image, stimulate urban development, to attract visitors and thus investment.
Nonetheless, culture-led development does not solely consist in these monetary
impacts but also in non-monetized benefits on social inclusiveness, resilience of
communities and individuals, entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, use of local
resources, improvement of skills and knowledge (UNESCO 2012).
Also, creativity stemming from art and cultural productions or activities fosters
innovation. Indeed, creative people, notably artists, tend to think imaginatively,
break conventions and thus give inputs for new ideas, processes or products.
Regional and local authorities are then in a key position to facilitate “cross-
pollination” between culture and other sectors, thereby facilitating “creative
spillovers” and culture-based innovation (EP 2012).
Culture-led development can therefore result in:
•
urban regeneration
•
a lever for territorial and social integration
•
a boost for local companies
•
a stimulation to the deployment of ICT
•
creative inputs for competitive products
•
an environment-friendly economy and green jobs
2.2 Paradigm shift in local development policies
European regions and cities are facing different socioeconomic challenges (de-
industrialisation, development of new economic activities, rising unemployment, brain
drain, budgetary constraints, societal and environmental issues, globalisation etc.).
Some European territories have seen in arts and culture a precious asset to address
those. By mainstreaming culture in their local development and innovation policies, they
have successfully achieved a variety of social and economic objectives among which
social cohesion, active citizenship and participation, engagement of communities, city
branding, re-use of industrial cultural heritage, urban regeneration, etc. A paradigm
