| By: |
Monica Calcagno (Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia);
Maria Lusiani (HEC Montreal);
Fabrizio Panozzo (Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia) |
| Abstract: |
Culture is a key word in the story of Italy. The richness of its cultural past
together with the present and future potential of its creativity has given
culture a central role in the agenda of public policies. As a new element in
this pattern, most recently the word ÒcultureÓ has been increasingly and
explicitly combined with the word competitiveness. The relationship between
the two words is mediated by the creative process and seems to evoke a new
model of economic development based on the attempt to govern the economy
through a careful use of culture as a key dimension. This connection looks at
the territory as the context where cultural processes can be encouraged, and
used to transform the economy. The declination of culture as an economic issue
produced two main streams of research: a first one focusing on the creative
cities and a second one more devoted to the question of cultural clusters. The
paper is centred on the second one, and offers a critical review of the
literature on cultural cluster and on culture as a key dimension of economic
development. The theoretical debate is further discussed through an empirical
investigation based on an in depth analysis of a number of entrepreneurial
experiences taking place in a limited area of the Veneto region. The final
discussion identifies critical key points emerging from the comparison between
the rhetoric of the debate and the practice of the experiences. |
| Keywords: |
cultural clusters, policy, governance, culture, creativity, culture-led development |
| JEL: |
L26 |
| Date: |
2012–11 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:32&r=cul |