The social life of measurement: how methods have shaped the idea of culture in urban regeneration

Campbell, P ORCID: 0000-0001-8754-0162, Cox, T and O'Brien, D (2017) The social life of measurement: how methods have shaped the idea of culture in urban regeneration. Journal of Cultural Economy, 10 (1). pp. 49-62.

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Abstract

Although ‘culture-led regeneration’ has been critiqued as both a concept and practice, it is clear that policy-makers continue to make efforts to use cultural activity of varying forms to achieve ends which could be (and are) described in terms of urban ‘regeneration’. Whilst the idea of culture-led urban regeneration had gained considerable prominence in a range of policy by the early twenty-first century, many questions have remained over how exactly such ‘regenerative’ outcomes could be convincingly demonstrated, despite much activity to attempt such demonstration over the course of preceding years. The desire for convincing evidence can be seen in a continued, and increasing, focus on evaluation, and methods aimed at providing evidence of impact and outcomes. In light of the renewed political focus in recent years on ‘proving’ the effects and value of cultural activity, this paper considers the continuation of practice in this area, and asks what lessons, if any, have been learned in evaluative practice which seeks to demonstrate the regenerative effects of culture. In light of the continuation of apparently problematic practices, the paper seeks to delineate and account for what has been learned, and what has not.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	culture-led regeneration, evidence, evaluation, cultural value, methods
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2016 09:28
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 07:28
DOI:	10.1080/17530350.2016.1248474
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3003905