Laura Vici (p), Antonello Eugenio Scorcu, Roberto Zanola

Silvia Cerisola

The aspiration to create a cohesive European cultural space within Europe remains a cornerstone in the evolution of European integration. This endeavour highlights a dual focus: promoting shared transcultural values while safeguarding the unique cultural identities of individual nations. Achieving this delicate balance is particularly challenging due to the varying economic conditions and institutional frameworks that characterize the member states. This study employs the club convergence framework to explore whether European countries exhibit converging patterns in public cultural expenditures over the period 2012–2021. Drawing on the nonlinear dynamic log-t test of Phillips and Sul (2007) and an ordered logit model, we identify six distinct convergence clubs, highlighting persistent disparities in cultural expenditure strategies across 30 European countries. Our analysis reveals a stark North-South divide, with Northern European countries converging toward higher levels of cultural spending, while Southern and lower-income economies exhibit fragmented trajectories. When focusing on the Eurozone subset of 20 countries, a similarly heterogeneous pattern emerges, further constrained by stricter fiscal policies and unified monetary policies. Key determinants of club membership include initial cultural expenditure levels, government deficits as a percentage of GDP, and human capital, underscoring the critical importance of starting conditions and fiscal capacity in shaping national cultural policies. Interestingly, factors such as per capita GDP and democratic governance appear to have weaker or inconclusive influences on club dynamics. These findings have significant implications for cultural policy within the European Union, suggesting that achieving a unified cultural strategy may require a more nuanced, localized approach that reflects the unique economic and institutional contexts of member states. By emphasizing the role of education and fiscal flexibility, policymakers can better address existing disparities in cultural investment and foster a more integrated yet diverse cultural landscape. This study represents a pioneering effort in applying the club convergence framework to cultural policy, providing a robust analytical foundation for future research into the economic underpinnings of cultural integration in Europe.

Silvia Cerisola (p), Elisa Panzera

Rita De Siano

Cultural Heritage (CH) is perceived as an important asset for local economic development. However, its impact on economic performance is often just assumed, without much empirical evidence. In fact, the mere presence of heritage is not enough: it must be valorized and somehow “activated”. The main transmission channel that has been explored in the existing literature is (cultural) tourism. Nevertheless, there are increasing concerns about the potential negative implications of (over)tourism. Although to a much lower extent with respect to tourism, other more sophisticated and intangible transmission channels have been explored.
This work originally aims at jointly assessing the role of tourism and territorial intangible assets (community attachment) in mediating the impact of CH on local development. Innovatively, the paper analyzes Italian municipalities, considering: i. that tourism and community attachment are not independent (tourism might exert a negative effect on local intangible assets), and ii. that different local conditions in terms of touristic pressure (i.e., overtourism or undertourism) might influence the overall outcomes.
The issue is econometrically explored through a Structural Equation Model (SEM) performed on Italian municipalities, with spatially lagged variables to take into account the spatial dependence of the observations. Such model allows to consider the different relationships involved in the overall reasoning. In addition, the choice of the chronological consequentiality in the data guarantees a “de-trended” setting. The dependent variable is the growth of per capita income at the municipal level in Italy. Particularly, a significant direct effect of CH on the dependent variable is not expected, since CH needs to be «activated» to become effective in favoring local development. Significant effects are instead anticipated when the touristic channel is considered, since CH works as an attractor of tourists. On the other hand, CH is thought to positively affect community attachment through enhancing sense of belonging and local identity, and, by this channel, to positively affect per capita income growth through promoting civic engagement, trust, cooperation, and collective learning processes. Community attachment is measured as a composite indicator involving inclusiveness, civicness, and altruism. The model also allows to study the direct relationship between tourism and community attachment, which could be negative due to the potentially detrimental impact of strong touristic flows on local identity. Eventually, drawing on some previous work by the authors, the sample is split into “overtourism” and “undertourism” municipalities to appreciate potentially different effects in the different situations and to provide suitable policy suggestions.

Rita De Siano (p), Rosaria Rita Canale

Mara Carando

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2017) has recognized tourism as an extraordinary opportunity for the host country and its local communities. The overall contribution of tourism strongly depending on the ability of policymakers, institutions and stakeholders to create a sustainable model to manage the growth of the sector and its impact on the hosting communities. In this regard, culture and tourism, when working together, could be crucial for economic growth and sustainable development. ‘No sustainable development without culture’, UNESCO and like-minded organizations have argued. Culture favors tourism by supporting heritage, production, creativity and the protection of both tangible and intangible heritage of a destination. Moreover, cultural heritage, by reflecting national identity and traditions helps also to strengthen sustainability in local economies, as considered a key element in the humanization of cities and human settlements, playing an important role in rehabilitating and revitalizing urban areas, and in strengthening social participation and the exercise of citizenship.
In this regard, World Heritage Sites appear to have significant influence on promoting the protection of the various expressions of culture around the world as well as tourism growth, with each additional UNESCO site leading to rise in tourist flows.
The preservation and enhancement of culture implemented through the inclusion of tourist resources in the list of World Heritage Sites, however, could have also controversial effects on the well-being of the resident community. The increase in arrivals stimulated by the presence of outstanding cultural heritage sites or elements, in fact, could even lead to a worsening of the level of congestion in the area of interest.
The objective of our research, broadly speaking, would be to assess, in the relationship between the endowment of cultural resources and the economic performance of a destination, the impact that enhancement of cultural tourism could have in terms of sustainability and increasing pressure on the territory and to analyze the role UNESCO sites may exert on destination development process.

Mara Carando (p)

Silvia Emili

Biella is a mid-sized city in northern Italy, historically rooted in a now-declining textile-industrial economy and located within a rural landscape of significant environmental value. In the last ten years, the municipal administration has pursued a renewed local development strategy centred on culture, articulated through participatory and inclusive planning processes. In light of the growing institutional and academic recognition of culture as a catalyst for sustainable development and given the conceptual robustness of the cultural district model as a framework for fostering territorial regeneration, this study investigates the Biella case through a theory-informed analytical lens. Employing a qualitative methodology that combines literature review, case study reconstruction, and critical policy analysis, the research aims to assess the alignment between Biella’s cultural strategy and established models of culture-led development. The first section surveys key contributions to the theory of cultural districts and the evolving discourse on culture-led development. The second section provides an in-depth examination of Biella’s trajectory, highlighting the strategic phases, institutional actors, and initiatives underpinning the city’s transformation. The final section develops a critical evaluation of the case, identifying both points of convergence with, and deviations from, theoretical expectations. The study ultimately seeks to distil planning insights that may inform future initiatives in similar contexts, emphasizing flexibility, place-sensitivity, and participatory governance as core principles for sustainable cultural development.

Silvia Emili (p)

Laura Vici

Over recent decades, the literature on tourism has emphasized the role of tangible and intangible cultural assets as key components of destination attractiveness, aligning with the recognition of cultural tourism as a major growth market in global tourism (UNWTO, 2004). This trend has impacted cities, regions, and nations alike, prompting intense competition among destinations to develop cultural attractions that serve as "must-see" sights for both cultural tourists and local residents. However, cultural attractiveness is often overshadowed by the dominance of tourism-focused strategies, with cultural appeal subsumed under broader tourism attractiveness metrics. Only recently scholars begun to explore the concept of cultural attractiveness more distinctly, finding a significant relationship between the two separate concepts of attractiveness. This connection and the joint potential to drive socio-economic and environmental sustainability raises important questions for policymakers, according to the (well-recognized) key role of both tourism and culture attractiveness in a sustainable development (European Commission, 2023). Understanding how destinations can enhance their attractiveness, rejuvenate their image, and promote the sustainable development of their territories is essential. However, studying these relationships in isolation risks introducing misspecification issues, potentially leading to unreliable results.
This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the interplay between culture, tourism, and sustainability. In particular, we examine the endogenous relationships between cultural and tourism attractiveness and the sustainable development performance of Italian territories (NUTS-3) in the period 2013–2021, using a panel VAR model with spatial interactions and temporal dynamics.
The proposed technique integrates cultural and tourism synthetic indicators with sustainable development measures covering economic (e.g., employment and income growth), social (e.g., education, equality, and health), and environmental (e.g., energy efficiency, air quality, and waste management) dimensions. This framework addresses two key research questions: (1) how cultural and tourism attractiveness impact sustainable development targets, including potential transmission effects across neighboring territories; and (2) how territorial sustainable development performance reciprocally influences cultural and tourism attractiveness.
Preliminary findings indicate that cultural and tourism attractiveness have a positive and statistically significant impact on local sustainable development performance. However, further investigation is required to understand how provinces absorb shocks in any of the three key variables and whether these effects propagate to neighboring areas.