The creative potential of medium-sized and small Greek cities: Reflections on contemporary cultural strategies

Abstract

As the creative city discourse has come to the centre of cultural policy debates, its rhetoric often neglects smaller cities and emphasises the cases of large cities that employ culture as a driver for economic growth. However, the cultural strategies of many medium sized and small cities focus more on social objectives. This seems to be the case for Greek cities of medium and small size. In order to determine the contemporary cultural strategies employed by local authorities and the State a survey was undertaken by the authors in 20 cities. Part of it focused on an examination of municipal and public cultural and educational infrastructure as a body of evidence for identifying these strategies. The findings of the survey indicate that the cities share common strategies which are mainly introverted, community-oriented and only slightly related to economic considerations; however, these strategies offer some opportunities for promoting a positive image and fostering creativity. © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.