Cultural Districts and the Potential for Urban Development

This paper explores districts designed to organize a city's cultural and arts communities and facilities. It further outlines some fundamental policy recommendations for community leaders undertaking such cultural district planning. Such planning policies cannot be uniformly produced across cities; they instead require careful preparation to accommodate the unique attributes of a specific urban area and its population. Furthermore, cultural districts can create disproportionate economic and social effects for residents of varying socioeconomic groups—in particular, low-income groups that may have unequal access to any benefits from cultural economic development. In order for a cultural district to fulfill its predetermined goals, it must garner support from local investors, businesses, culture and arts communities, and community residents who may benefit economically, educationally, and recreationally from its development.