Culture and the Economy of Cities

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Abstract
A division of social processes into different, mutually exclusive ‘value spheres’ such as ‘cultural’ or ‘economic’ derives from a 19th-century, European model of civil society. This model cannot respond to current political demands for cultural recognition and redistributive justice which characterize multicultural societies. It does not acknowledge the economic importance of knowledge work. Spatially located analyses, such as in urban and regional research, offer an ideal opportunity to marry analytical approaches to capture the convergence of cultural and economic processes in given localities. Attempts within political economy to integrate culture as a force of governance have tended to oversimplify the cultural aspects of economic activity as, for example, discourse. A ‘cultural-economic’ approach emphasizing place and context is proposed.