Evaluating Culture and Regional Economies

Culture is in fashion. Creative, innovative, entrepreneurial and other affirmative cultures are the aspirational goals of regions and their developers. Culture, and an espoused need for cultural change, typify regions as diverse as Queensland sugar, the Middle East, and Wales. Culture as a stimulating and progressing environment can energise entrepreneurs and institutions to drive change and regional development. Such is the fashion. The interplay between culture and regional economic development is the focus of this paper. Ways of developing considerations of culture are examined along with potential modes of analysis. The impacts of culture can be considerable but care is needed in evaluation. Evaluative frameworks need to be well structured if appropriate insights are to be gained into the regional contributions of culture.