Events as soft infrastructure for urban development? Learning from the Italian Capital of Culture initiative

Italian cities and regions are the place of extremely complex connections of different types of cultural expressions, spanning from aulic to popular. By contrast, for decades, public policy has prioritized conservation of material cultural property and mainstream approaches to cultural activities, neglecting the role other intangible resources (such as creativity and events) can play in stimulating wider developmental processes within urban areas. In this context, this chapter investigates the effects of the national project, the Italian Capital of Culture (ICoC). This was an initiative, started in 2014, to capitalize on projects from the cities that had competed for the title of European Capital of Culture 2019. The analysis considers key features of the action plans proposed by the awarded cities (e.g. governance, civic engagement, territorial resources employed, etc.) and other typical dimensions found in the literature, such as the impact on tourism. Evidence from this analytical exercise is used to draw more general lessons on the limits and potentials of cultural events as part of wider urban development strategies.