Abstract
While most published studies on the economy of culture present a clear bias in favor of large cities, a significant international bibliography has emerged in recent years that privileges the perspective of medium and small cities. Unfortunately, the case of Spain has been largely overlooked by these analyses; this text is intended to remedy that oversight. To that end, a bibliographic compilation has been undertaken of studies on the cultural economy and cultural development in small and medium Spanish cities, providing a review of the specific literature as contrasted with the international literature. The main conclusions indicate that the Spanish case is similar to that of other western countries. Thus, clear confirmation is found that the effects of agglomeration economies and the so-called metropolitan bias also prevail in Spain, together with dispersion patterns that, to a certain extent, favor particular small and medium cities. Furthermore, even though the literature on the use of culture for urban renewal is abundant, the same cannot be said for the economics of culture, where considerable research gaps persist, both in the geographical coverage of case studies and in the social or labor impacts of this economic model.
Highlights
When at the end of the 20th century the cultural critic F
An assumption is made in the academic literature that large cities and metropolitan areas have clear advantages when competing for the culture economy
While large metropolitan areas and capital cities present better indicators in terms of ‘creative economy,’ as would seem to correspond to the theories already seen, some small and medium cities obtain comparatively high results in terms of ‘cultural vibrancy’ or ‘enabling factors’ [5], suggesting that the cultural approach to urban renaissance may be an option for smaller urban areas [12]
Summary
When at the end of the 20th century the cultural critic F. A certain symbolic connection with place seems a necessary precondition for cultural consumption [36], at least in its more advanced variants, producing what some authors have described as experience-scapes ([37], quoted in [36]) This consideration implies the need to broaden the focus on the economic geography of culture, extending analysis from cultural production to embrace cultural consumption, which requires attention to aspects such as leisure and tourism, as well as specific localities as spaces of cultural experimentation [24]. In a very graphic way, these latter two authors summarize the controversy in an article that asks the question, “Do jobs follow people [as in Florida’s thesis], or do people follow jobs [as in Scott’s and Storper’s thesis]?” [45] (p. 147)
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