Cultural Heritage, Creativity, and Local Development …
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not necessarily generate an economic return; in order to achieve such a goal, investments must be coupled with policies enhancing and preserving the sociocultural
environment in which cultural heritage and industries are located.
3 Creativity as a Mediator of the Economic Impact
of Cultural Heritage
Particular attention has been devoted by the research group to a specific intangible
element through which the role that could be played in socioeconomic development
by cultural heritage could take place: creativity. In recent literature, the linkage
between the impacts of socioeconomic development by cultural heritage on the one
hand and by creativity on the other has been widely recognized at both academic and
institutional levels.
1
The spatial dimension, specifically, has gained great relevance within these topics,
through the emphasis on the importance of history and cultural heritage in shaping
local systems and in affecting their economic outcomes.
2 Moreover, history, culture,
physical setting, and overall operating conditions also shape the creative capacity of
a place (Csikszentmihalyi 1988).
Two parallel theoretical traditions have developed, one regarding the link between
cultural heritage and economic performance and the other focusing on creativity and
economic performance. Up to now, however, they have remained mainly separate
and overall inconclusive.
As for the relationship between creativity and regional development, the mixed
empirical evidence is due to the objective difficulties in defining and measuring
creativity. As for cultural heritage and regional development, on the other hand,
the link is often just assumed. When a transmission channel is considered, this is
often exclusively cultural tourism, according to a linear and mechanical “tourism →
demand → income multiplier effect → production → development” model.
Drawing on such limitations within the existing literature, this part of the research
program suggests that an effort should be made to link the two streams. The added
value of the research group work lies specifically in bringing the two theoretical
traditions together, highlighting for the first time that cultural heritage and creativity
do in fact interact on a territorial level and can concur to push economic development,
mutually reinforcing their interpretative potential.
Cultural heritage could indeed inspire local creativity, which could—in turn—
have a positive impact on economic development through the generation of new and
original ideas (Cerisola 2019a, b).
In this sense, the main research question that this part of the research program
attempts to answer is whether creativity mediates the effect of cultural heritage on
economic development.
1 E.g. European Council ESDP (1999), Florida (2002) UNCTAD (2010).
2 E.g. Pratt (2008), JPI (2014).
15
not necessarily generate an economic return; in order to achieve such a goal, investments must be coupled with policies enhancing and preserving the sociocultural
environment in which cultural heritage and industries are located.
3 Creativity as a Mediator of the Economic Impact
of Cultural Heritage
Particular attention has been devoted by the research group to a specific intangible
element through which the role that could be played in socioeconomic development
by cultural heritage could take place: creativity. In recent literature, the linkage
between the impacts of socioeconomic development by cultural heritage on the one
hand and by creativity on the other has been widely recognized at both academic and
institutional levels.
1
The spatial dimension, specifically, has gained great relevance within these topics,
through the emphasis on the importance of history and cultural heritage in shaping
local systems and in affecting their economic outcomes.
2 Moreover, history, culture,
physical setting, and overall operating conditions also shape the creative capacity of
a place (Csikszentmihalyi 1988).
Two parallel theoretical traditions have developed, one regarding the link between
cultural heritage and economic performance and the other focusing on creativity and
economic performance. Up to now, however, they have remained mainly separate
and overall inconclusive.
As for the relationship between creativity and regional development, the mixed
empirical evidence is due to the objective difficulties in defining and measuring
creativity. As for cultural heritage and regional development, on the other hand,
the link is often just assumed. When a transmission channel is considered, this is
often exclusively cultural tourism, according to a linear and mechanical “tourism →
demand → income multiplier effect → production → development” model.
Drawing on such limitations within the existing literature, this part of the research
program suggests that an effort should be made to link the two streams. The added
value of the research group work lies specifically in bringing the two theoretical
traditions together, highlighting for the first time that cultural heritage and creativity
do in fact interact on a territorial level and can concur to push economic development,
mutually reinforcing their interpretative potential.
Cultural heritage could indeed inspire local creativity, which could—in turn—
have a positive impact on economic development through the generation of new and
original ideas (Cerisola 2019a, b).
In this sense, the main research question that this part of the research program
attempts to answer is whether creativity mediates the effect of cultural heritage on
economic development.
1 E.g. European Council ESDP (1999), Florida (2002) UNCTAD (2010).
2 E.g. Pratt (2008), JPI (2014).