Rhetoric and practice of cultural districts as a model of governance: Empirical evidence from the Veneto region

Culture is a key word in the story of Italy. The richness of its cultural past together with the present and future potential of its creativity has given culture a central role in the agenda of public policies. As a new element in this pattern, most recently the word “culture” has been increasingly and explicitly combined with the word competitiveness. The relationship between the two words is mediated by the creative process and seems to evoke a new model of economic development based on the attempt to govern the economy through a careful use of culture as a key dimension. This connection looks at the territory as the context where cultural processes can be encouraged, and used to transform the economy