New value perspectives in culture-led urban regeneration

Abstract

Until now, culture-led urban regeneration initiatives have been conceived and evaluated mainly according to neoliberal parameters linked to economic value. We wanted to show the importance of approaching this issue from a different angle, that offered by the UNCHARTED framework and its pluralistic view of cultural values, outlining an alternative meaning of culture-led organic regeneration. To this end, we examined the case of the Fàbriques de Creació (Creation Factories) programme in Barcelona, which we analysed in the context of the long history of culture-led urban regeneration in Barcelona and in contrast to two other control cases, one in Budapest and the other in Porto. This chapter reports on this work and the methodological reflections that followed. It then presents a series of recommendations for improving the evaluation of urban cultural regeneration initiatives. Finally, it concludes with the assessments of some leading experts in the field on the new perspective generated.