Culture Driven Economic Development (CDED)

It recognizes that, culture - its institutions and the accompanying businesses - have become the focal point of urban and regional development.
A case in point is the city of Birmingham (Great Britain), which had a decaying economy based on smoke stack industries. By turning itself into a cultural center it reinvented itself and secured its economic future as well. The city of Bilbao, Spainis even more extreme case in which hundreds of millions of dollars have invested in one museum designed by Frank Gherythat now draws over one million visitors p.a.
The city of Bogota, Columbiais another prime example. Since the nineties when a decision was made to invest in parks and public transportation instead of fast motorways the quality of life has risen as well as the number of students while murders are down.(World Watch report no. 21)...

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A report by Ronnie Dissentshik, correspondent, Tel Aviv, Israel, dissentshik@artsmanagement.net