CULTURAL POLICIES

The course explores the issue of the construction and development of cultural policies at international, national and local scales from an interdisciplinary perspective. Through an active presentation and discussion of literature on the topic and significant documents, students will engage with the public and political dimensions of arts and culture.

The course aims to accompany students' development of both a theoretical and practical approach to cultural policies, in terms of
- appropriation of the main concepts and terminologies mobilised by cultural policies and their study;
- in-depth understanding of historical and ongoing debates;
- understanding of the evolution of cultural policies at different scales in relation to their socio-economic contexts;
- situation and contextualisation of cultural policies;
- deepening of the role of the State in shaping cultural policies;
- Deepening of the relationships between different scales of governance and orientation of cultural policies;
- Deepening the relationships between cultural policies and other areas of public action;
- analysis of objectives, guidelines, resources and indicators mobilised by cultural policies;
- assessment of socio-economic impacts of cultural policies, with a focus on the sustainable development dimension;
- analysis of actors and capacities at play.

There are no specific requirements.

1. Introduction: a field of study and practice; a question of scale

2. Which culture?
From one culture to another - Inflation of a definition - Disciplinary approaches - Production and consumption - Delimiting the field

3. Which policies?
Explicit/implicit cultural policies - Subject and object - Government vs. governance - Politics vs. policies - Actors - Toolbox - Types of policies

4. Urban cultural policies 1
The culture of cities: ‘infrastructures’, strategies, models

5. Urban cultural policies 2
What are they for? - Cultural capitals, creative cities, cultural welfare

6. Urban cultural policies 3
Places, territories, scales (neighbourhoods, historical centres, suburbs, villages and inland areas, medium-sized cities...)

7. National cultural policies 1
Between identity and politics - Forms of intervention

8. National cultural policies 2
Italy ‘ours’: inertia, reforms, experiences

9. National cultural policies 3
The Culture of the Regions - Culture at War

10. International cultural policies 1
A global culture?

11. International cultural policies 2
A ‘community’ culture? The policies of the European Union

12. International cultural policies 3
Tourism, culture and digitisation

In addition to personal study (for which the supplementary bibliography uploaded on Moodle may be helpful), the study of the following texts is required:

Bonini Baraldi, Sara, & Luca Zan. "Tra politiche e pratiche: Administration Matters", in L. Zan, a cura di, La gestione del patrimonio culturale. Una prospettiva internazionale. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2014, pp. 237-247

21° Rapporto Annuale Federculture 2025 Impresa Cultura. Il turismo culturale in Italia: analisi, modelli e proposte - Sintesi dei dati principali 2019-2024, accessibile online: https://www.federculture.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Sintesi_dati_Rapporto-Annuale-Federculture-2025.pdf

One of the following:
- Cicerchia A., Che cosa muove la cultura. Impatti, misure e racconti tra economia e immaginario. Milano: Editrice Bibliografica, 2021
- Bobbio L. Pomatto G., Ravazzi S., Le politiche pubbliche. Problemi, soluzioni, incertezze, conflitti, Milano: Mondadori Università, 2017
- Santagata W., Il governo della cultura. Promuovere sviluppo e qualità sociale, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2014

Students will be encouraged to actively participate in the development of the course. Specifically, the following will be assessed
- the in-class presentation of a short bibliographical essay on a topic to be agreed upon (20% of the final grade);
- a case study presenting, analysing and discussing a policy, project or cultural site (40% of the final grade);
- discussion of the same study, reference texts and course content during the examination session (40% of the final grade).
Students who will not be able to attend the course (who will have access to the recordings and presentation aids of the lectures via Moodle) may submit a written presentation of a text or document, while they will have to study in depth for the exam an additional text in relation to the reference texts, always to be agreed with the lecturer.

written and oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

To be specified by the assigned adjuct professor

Problems and challenges, actual and potential solutions and policies related to the course topic will be discussed through the presentation and discussion of both academic and grey literature, as well as the media dealing with relevant issues and events. Group discussions and the students' own experience and curiosity will be mobilised.

The lecturer who will teach the course has not yet been assigned, so this Syllabus may be updated at a later date by the assigned adjuct professor, and this will be done as soon as possible, in any case before classes begin.