A Tiny Bilbao in the Province? Experience Economy and Cultral Planning in Small Communities

In the 2000s, along a booming economy, the ideas behind the experience economy and the creative cities inspired policy makers and city planners throughout the western world (Pine and Gilmore 1999, Florida 2004, Klingman 2007). This resulted in urban development and regeneration projects where the utilization of cultural institutions, creative industries and the demands of the creative class were drivers in the development of the major cities, i.e. the ”Bilbao Effect”. From the major cities these ideas spread to smaller cities, which raised questions about critical mass, etc. This ”second wave” of experience economy driven planning in a Danish context has been discussed by, among others, Marling, Kiib and Jensen (2009) and Andersson (2010).
The paper asks if the local and regional cultural planning in Denmark continuously are inspired by the experience economy, and is also asking what implications the size of the province communities have in relation to the application of experience economy thinking in cultural planning.
The paper presents a reading of the current 13 Danish “Culture Agreements” made between the ministry of culture and the cultural regions (Kulturstyrelsen) The reading has a special interest in the projects that focus on art and cultural activities in public space.
The 13 examples show that two main rationales guides the agreements: a) the experience economy, which informs cultural planning even in small scale cultural projects in province areas today, and b) the cultural planning of the welfare state, which focus on accessibility, a democratic and inclusive approach expressed in the form of culture projects that will enhance the quality of life and liveability in the local community.
The paper discusses how and if the two rationales can be executed in the same projects:
economic growth is desirable and needed, especially in declining areas, but when it is considered to be a success parameter in cultural planning it holds the potential of excluding certain projects or user groups.