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ABSTRACT
Theory suggests many benefits to a city from cultural destinations (CDs). This study offers a framework for evaluating CDs through studying visitors to CDs and visitors to other, less cultural destinations, which we call retail destinations (RDs). As each destination represents differing positions along our “cultural continuum,” we examine how visitors perceive the destinations and report their behaviors in each. We selected three CDs and three RDs in Toronto, surveying 30 adults in each destination about their behavior and impressions. Our findings show significant differences between the respondents in the CDs and the RDs. Some findings resonate with existing theory, in that CD respondents were more likely to be highly educated and White, non-Hispanic. However, other findings suggest avenues for examination, in that CD respondents did not report greater wealth or spending than did the RDs but did mention socializing as the primary reason for visiting a CD more so than those visiting an RD. These findings suggest that by encouraging CDs, cities may improve the quality of life for residents and visitors. Thus, cities might do well to use their municipal policy and economic development tools to drive revenues to cultural destinations or to foster CD uses in retail destinations.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Lori Martin, City of Toronto Economic Development and Culture.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Shoshanah B. D. Goldberg-Miller
Shoshanah B. D. Goldberg-Miller (PhD, The New School; MBA, SUNY Binghamton; BFA, University of Michigan) specializes in creative economic development, cultural policy, arts entrepreneurship, and nonprofit management. She examines the ways that cities use arts and culture in planning, fostering livable communities and creating economic development strategies to build their brand, attract residents and tourists, and distinguish themselves from other urban centers worldwide. Her book, Planning for a City of Culture: Toronto and New York (Routledge, Taylor & Francis, March 2017) brings a new, fresh perspective to the study of creative cities by using policy theory as an underlying construct to understand the role of arts and culture in the transformation of Toronto and the revitalization of New York during the decade of the 2000s.
Goldberg-Miller has published in City, Culture and Society; Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society; Cities: The International Journal of Policy and Planning; Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship and the Arts; and Journal of Enterprising Culture, and has co-authored chapters in Entrepreneurship in Culture and Creative Industries and Creating Cultural Capital. Dr. Goldberg-Miller is Assistant Professor of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, and Affiliate Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning in the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University, and serves as Academic Advisor to the City of Toronto’s Department of Economic Development and Culture.
Prior to joining the OSU faculty in Autumn 2014, she taught at The New School, Hunter College, and Columbia University. An experienced fundraiser, Goldberg-Miller was on the executive team at The Paley Center for Media, American Cancer Society, Greenwich House Pottery, March of Dimes, American Museum of Natural History, and Museum of Holography. As a management consultant, seminar leader and speaker, Dr. Goldberg-Miller serves clients including The Greater Columbus Arts Council, Columbus’ Lincoln Theatre, Parsons School of Design, Aspen Institute, National Geographic, and Sesame Workshop, as well as numerous individuals and community-based organizations.
Jack L. Nasar
Jack L. Nasar (Ph.D., FAICP) is a professor emeritus of city and regional planning at the Knowlton School and former editor Journal of Planning Literature. He has published more than 90 scholarly articles on meaning, cognition, fear, crime, and spatial behavior in relation to the environment. Nasar served as architectural critic for The Columbus Dispatch and guest critic for Landscape Architecture. His books include Environmental Aesthetics: Theory, Research, & Applications; The Evaluative Image of the City; Design by Competition: Making Design Competitions Work; Universal Design and Visitability: From Accessibility to Zoning (with J. Evans-Cowley); Designing for Designers: Lessons Learned from Schools of Architecture (with W. F. E. Preiser, and T. Fisher). An invited lecturer around the world, Nasar has received the EDRA Career Achievement Award, Lumley Award for Excellence in Research at Ohio State, Ethel Chattel Fellowship from University of Sydney, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.
Nasar has a Bachelor in Architecture from the University of Washington in St. Louis, a Master’s in urban planning from New York University, and a PhD in Man-Environment Relations from Pennsylvania State University.
Justin Reeves Meyer
Justin Reeves Meyer, Ph.D., is a Research Associate at the Center for Research and Evaluation at COSI, and an Adjunct Lecturer in City and Regional Planning at The Ohio State University. Dr. Meyer’s research focuses on the relationships between arts/cultural institutions and their communities, drawing from the fields of geography, sociology, and urban planning. Working in collaboration with a variety of university and nonprofit partners, Dr. Meyer’s work has been funded at the federal level through the National Science Foundation (Convergent Learning from Divergent Perspectives, NSF – DRL – AISL # 1811119) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (Rural Arts Connect, MA-20-19-0414-19).
Dr. Meyer has published in leading urban policy and planning journals, including Urban Affairs Review and Cities, and he has contributed to books such as Planning for AuthentiCITIES and Museums and Visitor Photography. He earned his MUP and Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan, and holds a Master of Philosophy in Environmental Design from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Product Design from Stanford University.