The Cultural Vitality of Cities – 2021 Edition. Top Performing Cities in Culture

This 2021 edition of the study uses, as in previous editions, the definition of cultural vitality as stated in the study Cultural Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators: “evidence of the creation, dissemination, validation and support of arts and culture as a dimension of everyday life in communities”.

According to the authors of this study, cultural vitality is built on three dimensions: opportunities, support and participation.

The first dimension, which refers to the ‘presence of opportunities for cultural participation’, places at the heart of cultural vitality the consumers, beneficiaries or participants to the life of the ‘city’, i.e. the inhabitants of the city or region in question, together with those who transit this space (tourists, immigrants, travelers). Facilitating cultural participation requires the presence of adequate cultural infrastructure and specialized human resources, as well as an entrepreneurial dynamic that generates cultural products/goods, creations and quality cultural services.

The second dimension of cultural vitality, ‘support for cultural participation’, is most often the responsibility of local authorities and refers to the financial resources allocated to organizations and institutions active in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS). The importance given by authorities to cultural life and quality of life, expressed also in terms of opportunities for relaxation and personal development through culture and creativity, is revealed by the percentage of the local budget allocated to support cultural organizations and institutions. The third dimension used by the authors of the study is ‘cultural participation itself’.

The concept of cultural participation is a broad one and includes both active and passive participation, intentional or voluntary participation, as well as unintentional, occasional participation. Cultural vitality is strongly marked by the level of cultural participation, a sign of civic participation and the degree of democratization of a society. This study aims to promote the concept of a cultural and creative city, i.e. a city that expresses its local identity, is friendly to its residents and those who pass through it, is open to diversity and hospitable to strangers, and loves beauty and harmony. The top cities that we present in this study aim to set the incentives that each city should meet in order to qualify as a cultural and creative city, and to set the quality standards that each city should meet in order to qualify as a cultural and creative city.