The culture and creative industries and tourism. How intersectoral is local cultural development in Italy?

In contemporary society culture has become a value generating and innovative activity. Place specific processes – the agglomeration of businesses that specialize in the cultural and creative industries and the transversal linkages that develop within and across sectors, in particular tourism – are key to this generation and innovation. Shedding some light on this place specific agglomeration dynamic, so far largely neglected, may increase the awareness of public policy makers and business actors and therefore the effectiveness of their intersectoral policies and market decisions in driving local development. Cross-disciplinary perspectives, approaches and methodologies have been applied at the inter-municipal level in Italy to examine whether and how culture, creative industries and tourism concentrate and cluster. Local development in Italy still requires more than traditional tourism policies and / or the marketing of tourism and cultural heritage. The promotion of innovations and synergies between tourism, the cultural and creative sectors, and other sectors is fundamental to the development of a creative atmosphere as a driver of sustainable and competitive local development.