In this long study the focus on culture has been adopted in order to reflect on existing policies for the governance of large territories, such as regions. In this context culture has a twofold meaning. Whilst culture keeps its core value as “art for the art’s sake”, it has at the same time lost its intrinsic value to become a means of action for alternative public policies for economic, social and urban development. The scope of the present research is to investigate the place of cultural projects and culture-led strategies within the framework of urban and regional development policies and strategies in Europe. From the investigation of three European examples – the Ruhr metropolitan region, the Basque Country and Lille and its métropole- and in light of the conceptual framework, culture-led strategies are found to be as instrumental to urban and regional development especially in territories undergoing a moment of inertia due to the change of internal and external conditions. The three European examples show how the industrial decline and the global crisis of the last decades have led to the identification of a historical “momentum” in which traditional practices of regional development are not effective anymore. The case of the Veneto region, which has been analysed as part of the present research, shows that the ”momentum” has now evidently also arrived in Italy. In a time in which the whole country is experiencing a moment of economic crisis, the Veneto region seems to be trapped in a transition stage between the successful past that saw its regional development based on industrial proliferation and the uncertainty of these days characterised by a profound change of its economic and social systems. Among all the issues the Veneto region is facing today, some, also called “wounds”, have been identified as the most urgent to be tackled: the economic crisis, a dispersed polycentric system, a spoiled landscape and issues related to a changed social fabric. Confronted by such a complex scenario of changes, the regional administration -Regione del Veneto- has started to review the policy framework of regional planning and to include more innovative practices to face current challenges. Concepts such as culture and creativity are becoming more prominent in discourses about regional development, even though they are still struggling for dedicated space in official documents ruling regional planning and are left under the exclusive control of the regional department for cultural affairs. While the Regione del Veneto is only somewhat trying to include culture and creativity in official regional planning documents, some bottom-up initiatives have indicated culture as a strategic factor for governing large polycentric territories and for their all-embracing development. These initiatives taking place around the Veneto region, such as Opera Estate Festival, Festival Città Impresa, Provincia Italiana, InnoVetion Valley, and the bid for the European Capital of Culture 2019, are already or are about to, overcome their status of traditional cultural events to assume a position of informal strategic planning projects. The mismatch between the content of policies and strategies proposed by the institution Regione del Veneto and the objectives of bottom up practices already implemented, or in course of implementation in the Veneto region, shows that the institutional policy framework for culture, and also for regional development, does not facilitate bottom-up practices already happening in the territory. In this context culture becomes a tool for governing territories that do not follow the policy orientation given by Regione del Veneto but rather a new understanding of regional governance taken forward by the private sector working together with local administrations. If the Regione del Veneto would like to follow the trend already taken on board by other comparable European regions, regain its leadership and direct this innovative process of regional development and provide internal efforts with an adequate policy framework, it should take up a series of resolutions. Resolutions like the redefinition of the concept of culture, the adoption of a strategic attitude towards culture within the urban and regional policy framework, and the review of the sectorial governance system of the region could help to deal with the new challenge of combining culture with regional development, which seems to be very relevant today as shown in other European cases, the literature available on the topic and in the already existing series of bottom-up practices in the Veneto region.
Il lavoro di ricerca individua la cultura come tema chiave per riflettere sulle politiche in atto per il governo di territori a scala regionale. In questo contesto la cultura assume un doppio significato: da un lato mantiene il suo valore intrinseco di arte per l'arte, dall'altro rappresenta un mezzo di promozione di politiche pubbliche per il raggiungimento di obiettivi di tipo economico, sociale ed urbano. L'intento della ricerca è di identificare quale sia il ruolo dei progetti culturali e delle strategie a base culturale all'interno del quadro di riferimento delle politiche rivolte allo sviluppo urbano e regionale in Europa. Dall'analisi di tre esempi europei – la regione metropolitana della Ruhr, i Paesi Baschi e l'area metropolitana della città di Lille – e in luce del quadro teorico, le strategie a base culturale si rivelano strumentali allo sviluppo urbano e regionale soprattutto nei casi in cui città e regioni si trovino a vivere un momento di inerzia a causa del cambiamento delle condizioni che avevano favorito il loro sviluppo fino ad allora. Lo studio dei tre esempi europei segnala che il declino del sistema industriale e la crisi globale degli ultimi decenni hanno caratterizzato un “momentum” storico in cui le pratiche tradizionali di sviluppo urbano e regionale non risultano più così efficaci. Dall’approfondimento sulla regione Veneto, come caso studio, emerge che quel “momentum” è arrivato anche in Italia. In un periodo storico in cui l'intero paese vive una profonda crisi del sistema economico e sociale, la regione Veneto sembra intrappolata in una fase di transizione tra un passato di crescita e benessere, grazie al proliferare dell'industria manifatturiera, e l'incertezza di questi giorni, caratterizzati da profondi cambiamenti del contesto socio-economico. Sono diverse le problematiche, dette anche “ferite”, che la regione Veneto si trova ad affrontare oggi. La crisi economica, un sistema policentrico dispersivo, un paesaggio danneggiato dall'industrializzazione e questioni legate al profondo cambiamento del tessuto sociale, sono identificate dalla ricerca come ferite prioritarie, che necessitano di essere sanate. Dovendosi confrontare con un così complesso scenario di cambiamenti, l'istituzione “Regione del Veneto” ha iniziato a rivedere il quadro delle politiche per la pianificazione territoriale e ad includere pratiche più innovative per affrontare le nuove sfide. Concetti come cultura e creatività stanno lentamente conquistando uno spazio autonomo nei discorsi legati allo sviluppo regionale, anche se essi sono ancora esclusi dai documenti ufficiali che regolano la pianificazione regionale e, in generale, sono lasciati al controllo esclusivo del dipartimento regionale dedicato alla cultura. Parallelamente si assiste alla diffusione sul territorio di iniziative bottom-up, che valorizzano la cultura e la creatività come fattori strategici sia per il governo di vasti territori caratterizzati da policentricità nonché per il loro sviluppo complessivo. Iniziative come Opera Estate Festival, Festival Città Impresa, Provincia Italiana, InnoVetion Valley e la candidatura della regione Veneto a Capitale Europea della Cultura per il 2019, dimostrano la volontà da parte dei rispettivi organizzatori e promotori di superare l’idea di una programmazione di eventi culturali tradizionali a favore dello sviluppo di progetti di pianificazione strategica a base culturale. La discrepanza tra il contenuto delle politiche regionali in atto per lo sviluppo territoriale e gli obiettivi di queste iniziative bottom-up che, in questi ultimi anni, si stanno diffondendo nel territorio a livello regionale, dimostrano che il quadro delle politiche istituzionali per la cultura e per lo sviluppo regionale non favorisce le dinamiche spontanee già presenti nel territorio. In questo contesto il settore privato, in alleanza con le amministrazioni locali, utilizza la cultura come strumento per il governo del territorio oltrepassando le linee guida delle politiche della Regione del Veneto in ambito di sviluppo territoriale e gestione della cultura. Dagli studi commissionati e dai tentativi di incorporare la cultura all'interno delle politiche di sviluppo territoriale da parte dell'istituzione regionale, sembra evidente che la Regione del Veneto intenda aderire all'orientamento che è già stato seguito da altre regioni europee comparabili. Per riconquistare la leadership nella guida di questo processo innovativo di sviluppo regionale e per favorire i tentativi interni bottom-up di pianificazione strategica a base culturale con un adeguato quadro di politiche istituzionali, la Regione del Veneto dovrebbe attuare alcuni cambiamenti dell'assetto odierno. A tale scopo, la presente ricerca suggerisce all'istituzione Regione del Veneto di fornire una definizione aggiornata del concetto di cultura, adottare un'attitudine strategica verso la cultura all'interno del quadro delle politiche urbane e regionali, e rivisitare il sistema di governo settoriale della regione. Questi cambiamenti sono ritenuti necessari al fine di connettere la cultura con lo sviluppo urbano e regionale, pratica che sembra essere molto rilevante oggi come è dimostrato dagli altri casi europei, dalla letteratura disponibile sull'argomento e dalle iniziative bottom-up già presenti sul territorio.
Culture-led strategies for the Veneto region. Innovative practices for governing a polycentric region
PIERANTONI, LAURA
Abstract
In this long study the focus on culture has been adopted in order to reflect on existing policies for the governance of large territories, such as regions. In this context culture has a twofold meaning. Whilst culture keeps its core value as “art for the art’s sake”, it has at the same time lost its intrinsic value to become a means of action for alternative public policies for economic, social and urban development. The scope of the present research is to investigate the place of cultural projects and culture-led strategies within the framework of urban and regional development policies and strategies in Europe. From the investigation of three European examples – the Ruhr metropolitan region, the Basque Country and Lille and its métropole- and in light of the conceptual framework, culture-led strategies are found to be as instrumental to urban and regional development especially in territories undergoing a moment of inertia due to the change of internal and external conditions. The three European examples show how the industrial decline and the global crisis of the last decades have led to the identification of a historical “momentum” in which traditional practices of regional development are not effective anymore. The case of the Veneto region, which has been analysed as part of the present research, shows that the ”momentum” has now evidently also arrived in Italy. In a time in which the whole country is experiencing a moment of economic crisis, the Veneto region seems to be trapped in a transition stage between the successful past that saw its regional development based on industrial proliferation and the uncertainty of these days characterised by a profound change of its economic and social systems. Among all the issues the Veneto region is facing today, some, also called “wounds”, have been identified as the most urgent to be tackled: the economic crisis, a dispersed polycentric system, a spoiled landscape and issues related to a changed social fabric. Confronted by such a complex scenario of changes, the regional administration -Regione del Veneto- has started to review the policy framework of regional planning and to include more innovative practices to face current challenges. Concepts such as culture and creativity are becoming more prominent in discourses about regional development, even though they are still struggling for dedicated space in official documents ruling regional planning and are left under the exclusive control of the regional department for cultural affairs. While the Regione del Veneto is only somewhat trying to include culture and creativity in official regional planning documents, some bottom-up initiatives have indicated culture as a strategic factor for governing large polycentric territories and for their all-embracing development. These initiatives taking place around the Veneto region, such as Opera Estate Festival, Festival Città Impresa, Provincia Italiana, InnoVetion Valley, and the bid for the European Capital of Culture 2019, are already or are about to, overcome their status of traditional cultural events to assume a position of informal strategic planning projects. The mismatch between the content of policies and strategies proposed by the institution Regione del Veneto and the objectives of bottom up practices already implemented, or in course of implementation in the Veneto region, shows that the institutional policy framework for culture, and also for regional development, does not facilitate bottom-up practices already happening in the territory. In this context culture becomes a tool for governing territories that do not follow the policy orientation given by Regione del Veneto but rather a new understanding of regional governance taken forward by the private sector working together with local administrations. If the Regione del Veneto would like to follow the trend already taken on board by other comparable European regions, regain its leadership and direct this innovative process of regional development and provide internal efforts with an adequate policy framework, it should take up a series of resolutions. Resolutions like the redefinition of the concept of culture, the adoption of a strategic attitude towards culture within the urban and regional policy framework, and the review of the sectorial governance system of the region could help to deal with the new challenge of combining culture with regional development, which seems to be very relevant today as shown in other European cases, the literature available on the topic and in the already existing series of bottom-up practices in the Veneto region.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
2012_03_PhD_Pierantoni.pdf
Open Access dal 26/02/2013
Dimensione
16.64 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
16.64 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/56741