Measure Creative Vitality through Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (CCCM)
Montalto, V., Tacao Moura, C.J., Langedijk, S., & Saisana, M. (2019). Culture counts: An empirical approach to measure the cultural and creative vitality of European cities. Cities.
Measuring the Cultural and Creative Vitality of European Cities
The research introduces the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (CCCM), a multi-dimensional dataset designed to help policy-makers measure and benchmark culture as a resource for urban development. While interest in "culture-led" growth has increased, it remains difficult to implement due to a lack of comparable data across different types of cities. This study addresses that gap by gathering 29 indicators for 168 cities across 30 European countries, allowing for a standardized comparison of cultural health in cities.
The Research Framework
The CCCM evaluates cities through three primary lenses, known as the C3 Index:
Cultural Vibrancy: Measures the "tangible" presence of cultural venues like museums and theaters, as well as the city's ability to attract audiences to them.
Creative Economy: Assesses how culture generates jobs, innovation, and intellectual property.
Enabling Environment: Examines the underlying conditions that allow creativity to flourish, including human capital (universities), openness (tolerance and trust), and local/international connectivity.
Key Findings
The data reveals that cultural assets are not exclusively concentrated in major metropolises. While national capitals tend to lead in Creative Economy scores due to job density, non-capital and medium-sized cities often outperform them in Cultural Vibrancy per inhabitant. For example, cities like Florence and Ghent show higher vibrancy scores than many capitals due to their specialized cultural traditions. Additionally, the study found that Enabling Environment factors vary greatly, with many smaller cities excelling because of high-quality universities or high levels of social trust.
How Does it Relate to Creative Vitality?
This research relates to the concept of creative vitality by providing a measurable "signal" of a city's cultural health. It acknowledges that vitality is not just about the number of creative jobs, but also the presence of a "socially and culturally inclusive environment" where people trust one another and are open to diverse perspectives. By including indicators like "People trust" and "Tolerance of foreigners," the CCCM aligns with the idea that creative vitality is rooted in the community's overall atmosphere and its capacity for human interrelation. Furthermore, by normalizing data per capita, the research proves that creative vitality is not a privilege of mega cities, but can be exceptionally high in smaller urban areas with aligned conditions.
Disclaimer: The article is read by human and summary story is co-developed with Gemini.
