Cultural Amenities: Large and Small, Mainstream and Niche—A Conceptual Framework for Cultural Planning in an Age of Austerity

Abstract

Cultural planning has been high on the agenda of many policy-makers. From an end in itself, it has been transformed into an instrument to regenerate neighbourhoods and even whole cities and as a means to boost the quality of place to attract high-skilled workers. With the current crunch on public spending, the question arises what will happen to cultural planning initiatives and what scope will remain for them. To explore what may happen to cultural planning in this age of austerity, we present a concise typology of cultural amenities based on two underlying, business model, dimensions. The first dimension concerns the supply side, namely the scale of provision of the cultural amenities. The second dimension, located on the demand side, is the market: orientation of the amenities: mainstream- or niche-oriented. Each type is associated with a specific location pattern, impact on the quality of place and funding configuration. We expect that the budget cuts will especially affect the small-scale, niche-oriented cultural amenities which are crucial for the quality of place. We also expect a trend towards further commercialization and commodification threatening the authenticity of the large-scale, niche-oriented cultural amenities.

Acknowledgements

This article is partly based on an earlier version which was co-written by Merijn van der Werff. I would like to thank Merijn for his contribution to the first version. I would also like to thank Len de Klerk, Allan Watson and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.