From Culture 1.0 to Culture 3.0: Three Socio-Technical Regimes of Social and Economic Value Creation through Culture, and Their Impact on European Cohesion Policies

Pier Sacco,Giorgio Tavano Blessi,Guido Ferilli

doi:10.3390/su10113923

Pier Sacco, Giorgio Tavano Blessi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113923

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Abstract

We develop a new conceptual framework to analyze the evolution of the relationship between cultural production and different forms of economic and social value creation in terms of three alternative socio-technical regimes that have emerged over time. We show how, with the emergence of the Culture 3.0 regime characterized by novel forms of active cultural participation, where the distinction between producers and users of cultural and creative contents is increasingly blurred, new channels of social and economic value creation through cultural participation acquire increasing importance. We characterize them through an eight-tier classification, and argue on this basis why cultural policy is going to acquire a central role in the policy design approaches of the future. Whether Europe will play the role of a strategic leader in this scenario in the context of future cohesion policies is an open question.

Highlights

Culture-led local and regional development has been a policy and media buzz across Europe and almost elsewhere in the world in the last two decades [1], and there is ample evidence of success stories, as well as of instructing failures, that provides a basis for an understanding of the structural and contextual conditions that enable culture’s capacity to generate social and economic value [2,3,4]
With the emergence of the Culture 3.0 regime characterized by novel forms of active cultural participation, where the distinction between producers and users of cultural and creative contents is increasingly blurred, new channels of social and economic value creation through cultural participation acquire increasing importance
It is no wonder that culture plays a marginal role in the European cohesion policy and policy agenda [10], and that the share of public resources for cultural activities and initiatives falls short of the share of cultural and creative sectors in the total European Union Gross Domestic Product (GDP), despite the recognized importance of the latter [11]

Summary

Introduction

Culture-led local and regional development has been a policy and media buzz across Europe and almost elsewhere in the world in the last two decades [1], and there is ample evidence of success stories, as well as of instructing failures, that provides a basis for an understanding of the structural and contextual conditions that enable (or block) culture’s capacity to generate social and economic value [2,3,4]. If this can be seen as a limitation, it paved the way to new forms of experimentation in cultural production, that rather than pushing the industrial dimension, have focused upon community involvement and upon bottom-up participation This turn reflects the emergence of a yet another regime of cultural production where Europe can play a true leadership role if it is ready enough to acknowledge its potential and to embrace it consistently: despite the short-lived history of Culture 2.0, a new wave of social and technological innovation is already mounting and preparing the emergence of yet another socio-technical regime of value creation that we call Culture 3.0 and which is still in its early stage. This change of perspective has especially important consequences for a strategically effective approach to policy design

The Strategic Importance of Active Cultural Participation

The Power of Cultural Participation: A 8-Tiers Approach

Conclusions