The Cultural Vitality of Romania’s Towns and Cities in 2007

The study on the cultural vitality of Romania’s towns and cities, carried out in 2007, monitored the manner in which the local authorities and the creative economy contribute to the development of culture in the urban environment.

 In this respect, an analysis was made on a sample of 250 Romanian towns and cities. For this analysis, five indicators regarding the performances of the creative economy and the support for culture of the local authorities, from financial perspective, were considered.

Among the (two sets of) indicators which gave the cultural vitality index there were: the turnover of the companies, the number of employees, the budgetary expenses in the field of culture, sports and religion and their weight in the total local expenses.

The conclusion of the study is that the development of the creative economy is proportional to an increased variation of the cultural activities, but not always to the financial support from the public institutions. Furthermore, the creative economy has most significantly developed in the big, economically-dynamic cities, such as Cluj Napoca, Timişoara, Oradea, Constanţa, Sibiu.