Towards Cultural Citizenship: Tools for Cultural Policy and Development, published in November 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 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
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.
Cultural policy is increasingly central to national and international agencies. While it originally grew out of identification and concern with the conditions is a fairly narrowly defined cultural sector, it is now a mainstream policy issue. Today the challenges, the opportunities and the responsibilities of cultural policy are changing, broadening, and connecting with economic, social and environmental policy. Cultural Policy, that is to say, is about the fundamental human right of citizenship and the fundamental human objective of sustainable development...Culture can no longer only or mainly be restricted to the opera house or gallery - 'the arts' - but must be looked upon and treated as a basic driving force behind human behaviour and central to human development....The core issue is to discuss and try to construct a framework for 'knowledge managemnent' for the cultural sector: to make the connections between rich fields of existing knowledge and research in!
cultural studies, anthropology, political theory, economics, sociology and the operational field of cultural policy.
