Murano has historically been one of the most important handicraft districts in Italy due to its tradition of glassmaking, giving rise to a unique local economy and highly specialised workers. While art historians have made numerous contributions to the study of this reality, less active have been scholars of economic history, business and management. With rare exceptions, the existing literature lacks an investigation of the factory, processes and workforce behind the creation of value in ...

This book reviews four decades of debate about restoring an industrial heritage site of inestimable value – the Venice Arsenal. Focusing on the challenges of economic, financial and institutional feasibility, it reveals how failing to address these aspects has undermined potential solutions from both technicians and heritage professionals.With a deep connection to the city over centuries, the Arsenal was the very basis of La Serenissima’s sea power, enabling its economic e...

Heritage Sites in Contemporary China: Cultural Policies and Management Practices focuses on cultural heritage policies in China emerging in the period of the 11th and 12th Five Year Plans. Various important Chinese sites across China are investigated, including Luoyang Sui, Daming Gong, Niuheliang, Xinjiang, and Nanyuewang through the dual perspective of archaeological debate and as a case study of policy making. It explores the relationship between policy and the institutional an...

Since the 1990s, heritage studies has emerged as a distinct academic field, and practices and rhetoric drawn from mainstream corporate management and strategic planning have become widespread. Based on extensive research, this book is an in-depth investigation of management practices rather than policies, based on a variety of case studies from around the world.The authors take the issue of management in heritage seriously, but also take into account the role of other disciplines w...

The sustainability of cultural organisations and their positioning in contemporary society are increasingly relevant topics among practitioners and scholars interested in the cultural field. Foundations, research centers, but also libraries and museums are under pressure to seek a balance between tradition and new challenges of modernity. Therefore, they need to rethink their role by developing new and more effective tools to reaffirm their fundamental function. This e-book presents the re...

Cultural policy is changing. Traditionally, cultural policies have been concerned with providing financial support for the arts, for cultural heritage and for institutions such as museums and galleries. In recent years, around the world, interest has grown in the creative industries as a source of innovation and economic dynamism. This book argues that an understanding of the nature of both the economic and the cultural value created by the cultural sector is essential to good policy-makin...

How cities can build on the “sharing economy” and smart technology to deliver a “sharing paradigm” that supports justice, solidarity, and sustainability.The future of humanity is urban, and the nature of urban space enables, and necessitates, sharing—of resources, goods and services, experiences. Yet traditional forms of sharing have been undermined in modern cities by social fragmentation and commercialization of the public realm. In Sharing Cities, Dunca...

The promise of competitiveness and economic growth in so-called smart cities is widely advertised in Europe and the US. The promise is focussed on global talent and knowledge economies and not on learning and innovation. But to really achieve smart cities – that is to create the conditions of continuous learning and innovation – this book argues that there is a need to understand what is below the surface and to examine the mechanisms which affect the way cities learn and then connect toge...

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the intellectual developments in urban conservation. The authors offer unique insights from UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and the book is richly illustrated with colour photographs. Examples are drawn from urban heritage sites worldwide from Timbuktu to Liverpool to demonstrate key issues and best practice in urban conservation today. The book offers an invaluable resource for architects, planners, surveyors and engineers worldwide working in h...

While designers possess the creative capabilities of shaping cities, their often-singular obsession with form and aesthetics actually reduces their effectiveness as they are at the mercy of more powerful generators of urban form. In response to this paradox, Designing Urban Transformation addresses the incredible potential of urban practice to radically change cities for the better. The book focuses on a powerful question, "What can urbanism be?" by arguing that the most significa...

Market-based social economy firms such as social enterprises, social purpose businesses, co-operatives, credit unions, and community economic development corporations aim to meet distinct social needs while making money. Do these types of businesses have the potential for growth in the modern economy? Are they destined to function only in areas where conventional firms cannot achieve a sufficient rate of return? Or will the role of social economy organizations change as businesses begin pl...

Today is a new metropolitan age and for the first time ever more people live in cities than they do anywhere else. As cities strengthen their international and cultural influence, the global world is acted out most articulately in the world′s urban hubs - through its diverse cultures, broad networks and innovative styles of governance. Looking at the city through its internal dynamics, the book examines how governance and cultural policy play out in a national and international framework.