Museums and cultural heritage sites are powerful assets for local development. They can help attract tourists, bring revenues, regenerate local economies, promote inclusion, boost cultural diversity and reinvent territorial identity. For several decades now, cities and regions have been drawing on these assets to put in place heritage-led regeneration plans as part of their wider economic development strategies. In this context, national, city and regional governments, the museum community, and other stakeholders are increasingly interested in:
- New ways to measure the impact of culture and museums on local development to effectively channel public and private funding. The debate shifts from demonstrating the tax revenues, visitors’ spending and jobs associated with the museums’ economic activity to also capturing impacts on community development through greater social capital; on urban regeneration; on place branding; on inclusion and well-being; on innovation and creativeness.
- Examples of ‘what works’ and ‘what does not’ in maximising the impacts and creating linkages between the museums and the local economy and social fabric and the implications for a wide spectrum of policies ranging from culture and tourism to employment and skills, health, business development, innovation and spatial planning.
- New governance arrangements and funding models. The new agenda impacts on how work is organised within a museum including human resources and funding. It also requires local and regional governments to effectively integrate new dimensions in their economic, social and spatial development strategies.
Table of Contents
1. About this guide
2. Introduction
2.1. The purpose of the guide
2.2. The structure of the guide
3. Economic development and innovation
3.1. In a snapshot
3.2. Rationale
3.3. Policy options for local government
3.4. Action options for museums
4. Urban regeneration and community development
4.1. In a snapshot
4.2. Rationale
4.3. Policy options for local government
4.4. Action options for museums
5. Cultural development, education and creativeness
5.1. In a snapshot
5.3. Rationale
5.4. Policy options for local government
5.5. Action options for museums
6. Inclusion, health and well-being
6.1. In a snapshot
6.2. Rationale
6.3. Policy options for local government
6.4. Action options for museums
7. Managing the relationship between local government and museums to maximise the impact on local development
7.1. In a snapshot
7.2. Rationale
7.3. Policy options for local government
7.4. Action options for museums
8. References
