Towards Cultural Citizenship: Tools for Cultural Policy and Development by Colin Mercer The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, Sida & Gidlunds Förlag, Hedemora, Sweden 2002, 196 pp. ISBN 91-7844-622-8 An international team of researchers has undertaken a major project aimed at mapping and systematizing the tools needed for analysing, planning, reporting and assessing cultural policies for human development. The project, which is part of the follow up to the World Commission on Culture and Development and the Stockholm Action Plan to strengthen the knowledge base for culture and human development, was commissioned by The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), with the participation of the Swedish Ministry of Culture, the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO, the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs. The research team was headed by Professor Colin Mercer, Director of the Cultural Policy and Planning Research Unit (CPPRU) at The Nottingham Trent University, in collaboration with researchers and specialists in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Towards Cultural Citizenship: Tools for Cultural Policy and Development, published in September 2002, contains an analysis of the dimensions of culture that connect to human development. The report targets a number of constituencies – from policy makers and practitioners in the field of culture and development, to institutional and community-based researchers, to ‘stake-holders in the cultural field’ in the broadest sense. The report has a broad conceptual focus. As the author explains in the introduction: ‘This is not a policy statement. Nor is it a policy manual, guide or list of cultural tools and indicators per se. Rather, its central ambition is to clear the ground, devise an architecture and lay the foundations for the work of a building that has yet to be built; to arrive at a relatively – and plausibly – unified conceptual framework for…planning, reporting and assessing cultural policies for human development’. The research explores knowledge from a number of fields (such as cultural studies, anthropology, political theory, economics and sociology), and examines methodological and evaluative frameworks that have been tested in other fields (such as quality of life indicators, value production chain analysis, and social and cultural capital assessment). Despite its highly conceptual basis, the report aims to have a practical influence on cultural policy, especially by introducing new tools for cultural policymakers. When taken together, these tools are intended to link research, consultation, knowledge and practical implementation in the context of human development in productive and practical ways. The report identifies the need to ‘deepen’ and ‘lengthen’ cultural assessment and puts forward four practical proposals to achieve such a new focus: 1) the establishment of a programme of action to bring together research efforts in the cultural field undertaken by UNESCO, the Human Development Report Office of the UNDP, and the World Bank. 2) the establishment of mechanisms for the development of cultural policies and cultural strategies based on competent forms of assessment and consultation through the frameworks of cultural planning and cultural mapping presented in the report. 3) the encouragement of national statistical agencies and other competent bodies to expand the remit of their research efforts in the cultural field in collaboration, where appropriate, with other research-competent agencies in public, private and community sectors. 4) the encouragement of new programmes of cultural research by universities and other research-capable entities in partnership with community and industry stakeholders in the cultural field to undertake, as appropriate, both issue-oriented and goal-oriented research that is policy-enabling. The authors also call for a new type of communication between and within different sectors, between research and policy in the cultural field, and between cultural policy and economic, social or environmental policy in order to be able to consider culture as a basic driving force behind human behaviour and as a central element of human development. For more information about the project contact: Professor Colin Mercer Director, Cultural Policy and Planning Research Unit, The Nottingham Trent University, Broadway Media Centre, 14-18 Broad Street, Nottingham NG1 3AL, UK, tel: + 44 (0)115 848 4920 Fax + 44 (0)115 848 4921 e-mail: [email protected]. To order the book, please contact: e-mail: [email protected] web: http://www.gidlunds.se/politik.htm

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