Framing Infrastructure in a Cultural Context: A National and International Policy Scan

Centre for Expertise on Culture and Communities Canada,
21 June 2007, Canada

Through a scan of online policy and program information, this Working Paper no. 3 from CECC explores uses of the term cultural infrastructure in Canadian federal policy and in policies and programs internationally. Geographically, the international scan covers the United States, Australia, the European Commission, England, Ireland, and Norway. Both national and state- or regional-level sources are included in most of the countries.
The paper finds three analytical trends that are broadening the concept of ‘cultural infrastructure’:
  • an emerging tendency, particularly in North America, to recognize the importance not only of tangible built forms of cultural infrastructure but also of less tangible and more technologically oriented types of cultural infrastructure.
  • a more diverse range of cultural infrastructure types by defining cultural infrastructure regionally rather than nationally, as in policy documents from Australia and England.
  • a more broad and inclusive understanding of cultural infrastructure by defining cultural infrastructure by its function rather than by its form, as demonstrated by Norway and the European Union.

This expanded scope for considering cultural infrastructure, based on contemporary policy discussions about infrastructure, helps to widen the discussion and counters the tendency to narrowly focus only on a community’s cultural facilities.  

Résumé : Par une revue minutieuse de renseignements en ligne en matière de programmes et de politiques, ce document explore l’utilisation du terme infrastructure culturelle dans les politiques fédérales canadiennes et les politiques et programmes internationaux. Géographiquement, l’examen international couvre les États-Unis, l’Australie, la Commission européenne, l’Angleterre, l’Irlande et la Norvège. Les sources aux niveaux national, régional ou par état sont comprises dans la majorité des pays. La revue fait état d’une conscience générale de l’importance d’investir dans l’infrastructure culturelle ainsi qu’une tendance émergente, particulièrement en Amérique du Nord, de reconnaître l’importance non seulement des formes tangibles d’infrastructure culturelle, mais également des types moins tangibles et plus technologiquement orientés d’infrastructure culturelle. Des considérations plus spécifiques en matière d’infrastructure culturelle ont, en général, été repérées dans les politiques et les programmes au niveau régional.

http://www.cultureandcommunities.ca/downloads/WP3-Framing-Infrastructure.pdf