A Comparative Analysis of Urban Cultural Policies through the Lens of Creative Industries: The Cases of Isfahan and Melbourne
Sahar Golchini, Samireh Kadaei
Abstract:
This research looks at urban cultural policies using a comparative study approach of the creative and cultural industry’s development in Isfahan, Iran, and Melbourne Australia. According to the results, it is clear that Melbourne has a more developed policy regarding collaborative governance, inclusiveness of infrastructure, and policies aimed at the creative economy, which is in line with the city’s strategic intention to market itself as a world class creative city. As opposed to Isfahan, which tends to concentrate more on the preservation of cultural heritage and nurturing the traditional art forms, with some emerging but not well integrated support for contemporary creative industries within the cultural policy framework. Both cities, despite their different historical and socio-political contexts, acknowledge, each in their own way, the importance of creativity towards urban resilience and economic diversification. The study enhances the literature on local cultural policies by illustrating how they can be shaped by all-encompassing overarching political, economic, and social situations, providing useful information to policymakers, planners, and cultural managers. On the other side, by analyzing the strengths and challenges in each individual city, the research offers a better perspective to form systematic inclusive cultural policies in multi-ethnic urban settings. As interest around the world regarding creativity and cultural industries in the context of the sustainable development of cities focuses, how various cities design and execute these policies has become crucial. This research uses a mixed method approach, which includes qualitative expert interviews and AHP as well as SEM quantitative analysis. The data collection involved initial semi-structured interviews with cultural policymakers and stakeholders from both cities, followed by a survey administered with a set of relevant indicators.
Keywords:
Cultural policies, creative and cultural industries, analytic hierarchy process (AHP).