City, Culture and Society 34 (2023) 100535

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City, Culture and Society

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Local political change, the neo-creative city paradigm and the mutations of
Valencian cultural branding
Joaquim Rius-Ulldemolins *, Pau Díaz-Solano
Universitat de València, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Prof. Andy Pratt The 21st Century has seen the emergence and subsequent crisis of the Creative City paradigm in which the broad
scope of culture and heritage for urban branding has been shown. Valencia’s case has been paradigmatic in
Keywords: showing the potential and negative effects of this strategy, which entered into crisis and constituted one of the
Local government critical elements of the strategy of the Conservative local government (1991–2015). With the change of gov­
Cultural policy
ernment to a left coalition in 2015, the transformation of a policy based on ‘white elephants’ shifted to one based
Neo-creative city paradigm
on the production of International Events and centres to boost the city’s strengths within the international
Cultural branding
Valencia framework. Although great events and infrastructures were ditched for a more participatory, sustainable
approach, international bodies such as UNESCO consider the city still adopts a ‘Creative City’ strategy. In the new
neo-Creative City paradigm, the development strategy focuses on creating value from the bottom up, drawing on
the material heritage and the creative fabric to this end. The strategy remains focused on promoting the city as an
international brand, on the self-promotion of the local government as a tool of legitimacy, and top-down
governance.

1. Introduction have sought to boost media impact and an attractive discourse for their
urban brand at a global level (Boix et al., 2017; García, 2004).
Culture has been one of the great vectors of urban development from However, this strategy has shown limitations in attracting tourism.
the end of the 20th Century to the beginning of the 21st Century, (Evans, This can be ascribed to many other global cities adopting the same
2001; Scott, 2010). In the first stage during the 1980s and 1990s, culture approach, thus reducing the novelty and marginal utility of such ‘in­
was used as an instrument for city renewal based on the development of vestments’ (for example, new, iconic buildings by top architects)
infrastructures and facilities (Bianchini, 1993; Mommaas, 2004) but (Muñoz, 2010; Rius-Ulldemolins, Flor Moreno, and Hernàndez 2019).
later there was a shift towards the promotion of the urban brand in a Therefore, the Creative City strategy has begun to show signs of running
more symbolic sense (Evans, 2003, Rius-Ulldemolins, 2014). In this out of steam given its medium-term unsustainability since it calls for
context, cultural policy has gained centrality within the urban agenda as large investments and does not report the expected impacts (Majoor,
one of the levers for transforming the image of declining cities into that 2011), The negative effects at the urban level have also been increas­
of creative cities (Pike, 2011; Vanolo, 2008). ingly highlighted, namely: (1) the gentrification/‘touristification’ of city
Thus, the centrality of cultural policy at the local level has been centres (Degen, 2008, Fernández González 2014); (2) a service sector
interpreted as a way to promote cultural and creative industries, attract that is highly dependent on tourism, and that drives out other economic
new workers and visitors to the city, and generate cultural products that sectors, making the city vulnerable to crises when there is a downturn in
are symbolically associated with the urban brand and its unique features international tourism (Hughes, 2018; Mansilla & Milano, 2019, pp.
(Currid & Williams, 2010; Ren & Blichfeldt, 2011). Likewise, cultural 1–22). Then again, another criticism has been the absence of bottom-up
tourism has become one of the key resources for large cities, which is social participation and the need to include participation in cultural
why a large slice of their budgets are spent on creating large in­ governance processes with mechanisms for concretion and decision in
frastructures, leisure and cultural events to attract them (Rius-Ullde­ order to democratize cultural policy that are usually controlled by po­
molins & Gisbert, 2019). With this, local governments and local elites litical and artistic elites (Jancovich & Franco, 2013, Jancovich &

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Rius-Ulldemolins).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2023.100535
Received 30 July 2022; Received in revised form 20 June 2023; Accepted 20 June 2023
Available online 13 July 2023
1877-9166/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
J. Rius-Ulldemolins and P. Díaz-Solano City, Culture and Society 34 (2023) 100535

Bianchini 2013). cultural sense (including design). They form part of the present Valen­
Furthermore, the social and political importance of the cultural cian government’s1 urban branding goals, which combine a Creative
sector has grown, with greater attention being paid to it in political City paradigm with a sustainable, participatory approach. This paper
agendas, attracting more funding. This new centrality has been accom­ thus examines to what extent the new local government has managed to
panied by waning autonomy in the management of cultural projects alter the urban development project based on major events. The present
given that these are increasingly being harnessed for other social and approach is a mutation of the previous model within the sustainability
economic goals (Gray, 2008; Kleppe, 2018). Thus, the discourse on the framework but remains part of the Creative City paradigm.
Creative City has been used to justify the growing weight given to large
branding-oriented cultural projects. This in turn has led to managers 2. Local cultural policies, political change, and the crisis of the
exercising greater control over projects and over the artists themselves, creative city paradigm
sparking discontent among creative sectors (especially emerging or
alternative ones that have seen their projects marginalized) (Sánchez In 2015, after seven years of crisis and five of austerity policies, the
Belando 2017; Pradel-Miquel, 2017). Here there is a growing belief that Spanish State’s development model based on large infrastructures and a
cultural policy needs a thorough overhaul, not least because the Creative construction boom had come to the end of the road. Spanish society
City paradigm has fallen into disrepute following the Global Financial witnessed the collapse of public spending and a spate of huge corruption
Crisis in 2008 (d’Ovidio & Cossu, 2017; Comunian, 2011). One alter­ scandals with growing wrath (Romero & et al., 2018; Antentas, 2017).
native advocated is that of a cultural policy focusing on social integra­ This was also the case in Valencia but things were made much worse by
tion (Belfiore, 2022; Connolly, 2013). Thus, we have been able to decades of deindustrialisation and impoverishment — processes masked
observe the emergence of an alternative branding model that, in by growing tourism and the political discourse of putting Valencia on the
response to criticism for its instrumentalizing excesses, has incorporated map through large events and infrastructures (Boix et al., 2017; Riu­
the promotion of local culture and sustainability into the Creative City s-Ulldemolins & Díaz-Solano, 2022).
Model (Kagan & Hahn, 2011; Ratiu, 2013). Thus, the 2015 local elections have been described as a turning point
The analysis in this paper is based on three main strands and sources: in the local governance paradigm with the irruption of local govern­
ments in the main cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia led by
First, research findings on the City of Valencia’s Culture Plan. The parties that emerged from the 15-M movement (López García & Guil­
research study was drawn up on behalf of the Valencia City Council lermo, 2020; Roig, 2020) as part of the change in cultural policies to­
and is based on twelve of the city’s cultural agents and experts wards a radical rethink of its paradigm (Zamorano and Mariano, 2018;
(anonymised). Rius-Ulldemolins & Klein, 2020, pp. 1–25). Unlike other political cur­
Second, we held several interviews covering two case studies: (i) the rents, the social movements stemming from 15-M in Spain and the new
City Music Project, a cultural branding project through this creative political parties that emerged from them have given central roles to both
label started in 2017 until its stoppage in 2019 ; (ii) The celebration cultural and symbolic aspects, and a broad range of cultural in­
of the nomination of Valencia World Design City in 2022, the origin termediaries (Podemos Cultura, 2015; Rubio-Arostegui &
and development of the candidacy and its impact on the city. And Rius-Ulldemolins, 2022). This vision facilitates cultural objects and
finally, a participant observation in the Valencia Urban Forum ses­ symbols, as well as symbolic and identity aspects in a populist political
sions, a meeting held in May 2022 on sustainability in which culture strategy (Levi 2012; Barrio, 2020). In keeping with this approach, cul­
received limited but representative attention and which consisted of tural policy is seen as a key tool in the struggle for hegemony. This
two debates attended and the interventions recorded. Moreover, five notion has steeped the analysis of cultural policy as an ideological tool,
specific interviews have been developed (two on City Music (with its enshrining a vision that ideas and discourses are what mark the evolu­
manager and an expert music critic), two on World Design City, with tion of cultural policies (Barbieri 2012, 2018). In this sense, the new
its manager and an expert creative city, member of the initial can­ currents inherited or influenced by 15-M such as Podemos (or in the
didacy and, finally, a person in charge of organizing culture of the Valencian case Valencia en Comú and Compromís) have developed a
Valencia Urban Forum These interviews have been carried out critique of the previous cultural policy (Àlvar et al., 2020, Rius-Ullde­
within the framework of the Project “New Urban Cultural Policy and molins & Joaquim, 2020), nevertheless they will have the challenge of
Social Transformation”, a project funded by Spain’s Ministry of transforming a cultural policy based on major events and cultural and
Science, Innovation and Universities - National R&D Plan (REFER­ sports infrastructures (Rius-Ulldemolins, Flor Moreno, and Hernàndez
ENCE: RTI 2018-096299-B-I00). The interviews were transcribed, 2019) and redefine cultural policy according to a more sustainable
coded and analysed and incorporated into the paper’s content but perspective (Kagan & Hahn, 2011; Ratiu, 2013, d’Ovidio and Morató,
omitting verbatim citations given that the interviews were con­ 2017).
ducted under an anonymisation agreement. The study was based on Therefore, this article aims to point out that after the emergence of
quantitative analysis of budgets, public administration and agencies the Creative City Paradigm there has been a growing delegitimization of
reports and Twitter TL analysis of case studies involving Valencian it due to its failure to fulfill promises of economic and social develop­
local and regional public representatives. ment and, due to growing criticism from of the alter-globalist social
movements, or outraged and also by the creators who are excluded from
First, we will analyse the growing importance of local cultural pol­ the development of these initiatives and harmed by the instrumentali­
icies — especially the development of branding projects linking crea­ zation (d’Ovidio & Cossu, 2017; Martí-Costa and i Miquel, 2012).
tion, products and urban lifestyle in promoting the city’s brand abroad. As we propose in Table 1, we can find three phases in the develop­
Next, we shall examine the relationship between local politics and the ment of the creative city in Spain: a) A first stage in which it first arrives
Creative City paradigm from the end of the 1990s to the present. This at the end of the nineties in the big cities first and in the nineties in a
span allows comparison of the approaches taken by the previous PP general way the then dominant paradigm in cultural politics (Pratt,
government (Conservative Right) and those of the present government 2008; Redaelli, 2020), on which regional and local governments have
(a Left-Wing coalition) and the extent to which the latter differ from or based much of their entrepreneurial strategies for planning their
continue the earlier entrepreneurial urban strategy. Third, we will
examine three city projects within the Creative City paradigm: (1) The
unfinished City of Music project; (2) The successful Design City project; 1
Often referred to as ‘La Nau’ government given that the political accords
(3) Urban Forum València 2030. All three initiatives have been pursued enabling the government’s formation were reached in the emblematic ‘La Nau’
since 2015, and are part of the idea of a Creative City in its broadest building, formerly the headquarters of the University of Valencia.

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Table 1 political agenda (Zamorano, Martín, & Rodríguez Morató, 2015;

From creative city paradigm to neo-creative city paradigm in Spain. Zamorano & Mariano, 2017). This has had beneficial effects by drawing
Creative City Paradigm Neo-Creative City greater attention to the public agenda, and at the same time putting
Paradigm actions in the political and media spotlight (Mangset, 2018; O’Brien,
Instrumental Participative Turn
2015). These trends have led political parties to make culture part of
Discourse Cultural and Sport Criticism to Search of new their electoral pitches. The parties also draw on the subject to furnish
Rationales as levellers of excesses and foundation of cultural
economic and pitfalls of CCP. policy, continuity of
symbolic resources for their discourses, and to offer patronage (Riu­
social Attempt to link city entrepreneurial s-Ulldemolins, Flor Moreno, and Hernàndez 2019; Rubio-Arostegui &
development culture and orientation Rius-Ulldemolins, 2022) (Rius-Ulldemolins, Flor Moreno, and Hernàn­
sustainability dez 2017; Rius-Ulldemolins and Joaquim, 2020). Thus, festivals, major
Realizations Global big cultural Regional events or Middle-size events
events and thematic years have become great occasions to mobilise
and sport events cultural capital and candidatures
and Flagship including local oriented to local support from broad professional and business cultural sectors (including
Infrastructures participation participation and creative sectors) and thus gain media visibility and bolster electoral
sustainability candidates (Gligorijevic, 2014; Rosi, 2014). In this respect, the prolif­
Examples City of the Arts and Urban Forum of City of Design eration of Creative City brand candidacies is interpreted as a way of (a)
Sciences Cultures (València)
(València) (Barcelona)
being on the media agenda, and generating contact networks in pre­
paring and developing candidacies, and (b) giving culture greater
Source: own elaboration. weight in the local agenda and for readying the government team for the
future share-out of power and duties (important, given the internal
development and competitive strategies at State and international level competition found in the local coalition governments).
(Patricio Mulero and Rius-Ulldemolins 2017; Prytherch & Boira Mai­ However, in the 2010s in Europe and especially in Spain, resistance
ques, 2015). In Spain’s case, this paradigm was first embraced by pro­ to the implementation of the Creative City paradigm grew in the form of
gressive democratic forces and later on by the Conservative Right. cultural industry neighbourhoods (d’Ovidio and Morató, 2017). Hence,
Despite nuances in approach, the paradigm commanded support across consideration began to be given to the long-term consequences of the
the political spectrum (Rubio, Arturo, & Rius-Ulldemolins, 2018). Creative City model and the need to rethink it in sustainability terms
In a second stage, there is a consolidation of the international net­ (Sánchez Belando 2017; Ratiu, 2013, Patricio Mulero and
works that promote a new wave of the paradigm of the creative city, Rius-Ulldemolins 2017). That is why there is a debate on which of the
among which we can highlight two axes: a) Based on the European following approaches now applies: (a) a post-creative model (ditching
candidacies of culture, in which Various Spanish cities participate and the previous paradigm); (b) the Entrepreneurial City; (c) discursive
that at a European level generates growing criticism for its instrumen­ change that exhibits some continuities with the Creative City model.
talization in the logic of the creative city as branding (Jones & Here, we shall analyse Valencia’s case given that it epitomises a city that
Wilks-Heeg, 2004). This generates growing pressure to democratize its has chosen to base much of its development on cultural branding (Boix
management and encourage local participation (Cohen, 2013; Žilič-Fišer et al., 2017; Rius-Ulldemolins & Gisbert, 2019).
& Erjavec, 2015). b) Another axis of this second stage of the Creative
City is its logic of UNESCO creative city networks, in which the candi­ 3. Valencian creative city strategy: changes and continuities
dacies try to increasingly integrate the local element while pursuing an
objective of cultural branding at an international level (Patricio Mulero Valencia is a middle city (the third in population of Spain, after
and Rius-Ulldemolins 2017; Rosi, 2014). In the initiatives developed in a Madrid and Barcelona) but with a strong cultural identity, inherited
second, more creative conception of the creative city, the limited from a rich medieval history and with own language, Valencian, a sin­
conception of citizen participation has been criticized as a validation of gular and rich literary tradition and a vibrant, many-faceted culture
what is proposed top-down and the need to propose scenarios of (musical, design, gastronomic and landscape) (Boira Maiques 2003;
participation and social innovation in which the citizens have a real Ariño Villarroya 1992). This cultural singularity has been valued in
power of decision and self-management (Sánchez Belando 2017; Bonet Spain as a tourist attraction, although it is less well known abroad
& Négrier, 2018). (Prytherch and Boira Maiques 2015). Thus, the cultural element began
In a third stage, the criticism of the Creative City Paradigm for its to be seen as a strategic tool for promoting the region and city, and
elitist management grows, its instrumentalization of culture, social positioning Valencia against other cities such as Barcelona (Boira Mai­
divisiveness and gentrification. In this case, there is a growing demand ques 1988; Boira Maiques 2007) and for taking an entrepreneurial turn
to abandon the paradigm of the Creative City for a cultural paradigm of (Prytherch & Maiques, 2015). In this sense, its condition as a
sustainability and cultural rights (Kagan & Hahn, 2011; Ratiu, 2013, medium-sized city incapable of competing with Madrid and Barcelona
d’Ovidio and Morató, 2017). However, the Creative City Paradigm and the growing concentration of creative industries means that its
actually has not been ditched and is often hidden under the rhetoric of commitment to place “Valencia on the map” through the creative city
sustainability and cultural participation but that continues to direct must be based on an active entrepreneurial strategy linked to the in­
cultural policy more towards branding than towards cultural rights, as is ternational scene and its networks of events and cultural capitals (Riu­
the case in some large cities in Spain after the 2008 crisis and the un­ s-Ulldemolins & Gisbert, 2019).
successful of policies for large events and cultural infrastructures During the Franco dictatorship (1939–1978), the Regime controlled
(Zamorano & Mariano, 2018; Barbieri, 2018, Rius-Ulldemolins et al., all forms of culture and traditional festivals to strengthen its control over
2016). That is why we can say that the Creative City framework still a formerly progressive, autonomous society (Flor, 2011, Hernàndez
holds despite the criticisms levelled at it. This explains why there has Martí 2022). With the advent of democracy in the 1980s, cultural policy
been no return to the old national framework of disseminating conse­ began as a vector of European modernisation, opening up and rebuilding
crated cultural assets — an approach that typified advanced modernity a Mediterranean-style regional identity (Hernàndez i Martí et al. 2014).
and the development of the Fordist economy and the post-war Welfare However, this period ended abruptly with the victory first at the local
State (Dubois, 2016; Mangset et al., 2018). level and then at the regional level of the Spanish Conservative and
Moreover, cultural policy has gained relevance in recent decades in Nationalist Right, which quickly saw culture both as a way to regain
relation to its importance as an economic sector and its key role in local control over Valencian society and to project the city as a tourist
regeneration strategies and urban branding. It has also played a key role destination. To these ends, it used a globalizing discourse that effectively
in attracting tourism, which has put cultural para-diplomacy high on the marginalized the unique elements of Valencian culture

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(Rius-Ulldemolins & Díaz-Solano, 2022). The most prominent case is approach that gives the Creative City paradigm an inclusive nuance.
that of The City of Sciences and Arts. Under the guise of Mediterranean However, in the planned actions, no action referring to a major event
architecture by a Valencian architect, Santiago Calatrava, the mammoth were developed in the programme but rather actions to promote cultural
project copied the apparently successful formula used at The Guggen­ supply and dissemination (national scenic centre, design museum, music
heim in Bilbao. The buildings were designed by a world-renowned ar­ subsidies, etc.).
chitect (Frank Gehry) to draw tourists but the project lacked any As for Compromís, its election manifesto continued to be anchored to
medium or long-term planning (Moix, 2016). This model utterly failed the classic paradigms of cultural democratization for “Promoting
in financial terms in 2010, visits plummeted, and large deficits were participation in the cultural field that guarantees a direct and contin­
racked up, The upshot was that Valencia gained notoriety as a decadent, uous dialogue with the various cultural sectors and with citizens
wasteful city (Rius-Ulldemolins & Gisbert, 2019, Romero & et al., 2018). themselves” and “Clear commitment to the decentralisation of culture,
At this time, the hegemony over cultural policy aimed at the local taking into account the basic principle of fostering citizens’ access to the
public — especially the Fallas (Rius-Ulldemolins et al., 2021) and the enjoyment and consumption of cultural activity under equal conditions”
policy of major events —collapsed. This gave rise to an intense oppo­ (Compromís 2019), focusing three of its specific objectives on the li­
sition campaign by Left-Wing parties —especially Compromís (Left, braries, two in facilities and three in medium-sized sectoral festivals.
Ecological, valencianist party) — against the kind of cultural policy However, none of its objectives bore on creativity or on applications for
pursued by the Popular Party (PP). The Left-Wing critics characterised international labels or networks, which will contrast with later de­
the PP’s approach as an empty, globalizing failure (Coalició Compromís, velopments, as we will see below.
2015). The defeat of the PP at both the regional and local level and the Once in charge of the Local Government, the Compromís Coalition
legal charges brought against all its local representatives in 2015 seemed government and the PSPV seemed to have almost completely abandoned
to mark both the collapse of the management model, and a clean slate the promotion of local culture within an urban branding approach. One
for drawing up a new cultural policy in Valencia that would serve citi­ should note that in the Strategic Framework of the City of Valencia (a
zens instead of just catering to its elites. The programmes of parties such plan approved in 2021), culture appears together with knowledge and
as Compromís (valencianist party): design as vectors of economic development (Strategic Objective, OE34),
and in the objective of “consolidating Valencia as key city in The Med­
“After over twenty years of Rita Barberá, marked by the waste of
iterranean, and at the European and international levels in culture,
public resources, by privatisation and the hijacking of citizen
creative leisure, design and innovation. While it is true the plan’s Goal
initiative, the starting point must be to map of cultural facilities (…)
SO40 is to stimulate the local cultural sector (albeit without any refer­
with citizen participation and open dialogue letting the men and
ence to access or cultural rights) but no specific measures are mentioned.
women who live in our city to decide what use they think is the best
The focus on the city’s international positioning in the cultural/knowl­
use for cultural buildings and for their districts (…)”. In addition, it
edge/design fields is justified because “they constitute essential poles of
set a clear objective in line with cultural democracy: “Compromís will
its [Valencia’s] economic activity and key values for the attraction of
especially commit to the decentralization of the cultural offer, to
international visitors and the communication of the city brand such as
revitalize life in the districts” (Coalició Compromís, 2015).
the music sector, design” (…) (idem, page 29). Significantly, the rest of
Therefore, Valencia en Comú (citizen candidacy based on Primavera the culture goals are aimed at promoting tourism (SO42, SO43 and
Valenciana (Valencian Spring), the Valencian branch of 15-M movement SO44). All in all, this constitutes the framework in which the main
with the participation of Podemos) bet on: creativity projects are planned from 2015 to 2023 and cover the
Valencia City Music and the World Design Capital projects, as we shall
“a comprehensive redefinition of cultural policies, based on forging a
analyse below.
new relationship between citizenship and culture. In general, we
must move from an idea of ’access to culture’ as offering scope for
4. Neo-creative city and urban branding: the Valencia City
cultural consumption to a conception of ’access to culture’ as
Music and the World Design Capital as a new City of Events
empowerment for the creation and cultural participation of citizens”
paradigm?
(València en Comú 2015).
Moreover, the Creative City model used in Valencia (called ‘The València Music City (VMO): cultural policy at the service of the
Calatrava Model’) was seen as gravely damaging the city’s cultural and branding of the local cultural industry.
social image: “Perhaps more serious, the huge funding needed for The idea of creating a candidacy for the City of Music arose within
holding these ‘great events’ has starved alternative cultural projects of the City of Valencia Cultural Plan (Ajuntament de València, 2017),
money, subsidies, and support” (idem). Thus, Valencia en Comú pointed developed within the framework of the new Left-Wing coalition gov­
out the need to reframe cultural policy priorities by re-examining the ernment and under the impetus of the Department of Cultural Resources,
roles played by the cultural sector and citizens. This new party also went controlled by Compromís. In this plan, four strategic lines were devel­
into a little more detail on what it meant by proposing a Local Network oped, among which the proposal to present a candidacy for UNESCO
of Creativity Centres, as a meeting place for Do-It-Yourself creators, Creative Cities stood out. The proposal sought to promote cultural
social movements and people. Those spaces were aimed to “Concentrate participation from Brass Bands (which enjoy a strong presence in the
training in and production and exhibition of cultural goods in the heart city), its renowned music schools, the music scene with traditional
of each district, where local residents are the creators” (idem). Valencian roots, and community music performance in general.
The 2019 local elections struck a new balance of local forces (with A Special Commissioner was hired to recruit a team to draw up the
the disappearance of València en Comú and the loss of all seats by its candidacy of Palau de la Música, which would act as the managing and
political heir, Podemos València) and confirmed the continuity of the left- promoting entity. However, the opposition of the Acción Cultural
wing coalition between the Socialist Party and Compromís (Martín Cubas Council, which had music competitions controlled at the time by
et al., 2020). In relation to the partners of the government, the minority, València en Comú - Podemos, was both hostile to the promotion of cul­
the Socialist Party, claims a shift in cultural policy towards big events: tural industries and in political competition with Compromís, stalled the
“We always add because we don’t want to leave anyone on the candidacy for two years. During this time, the presentation and granting
side-lines. Because the great cultural projects cannot continue to be of the UNESCO seal of City of Music to Llíria — a town in the Valencia
great only for a few.” (PSPV 2019). This refers to the cultural policy region (UNESCO 2019) — blocked Valencia City’s international candi­
followed until 2015 by the Popular Party. Certainly, it vindicates culture dacy. This was because if successful, Valencia’s candidacy would have
as " (…) a space for innovation and internationalization” (idem) in an yielded two cities from the same region in the network.

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However, shortly before the new municipal elections in the Spring of (World Design Capital Valencia 2022, 2020b; World Design Capital
2019, the idea was revived to publicly present another format and Valencia, 2022).
strategy, this time aimed precisely at promoting cultural branding. The The project arose mainly thanks to the efforts made by the Associació
Councillor for Cultural Resources and the City Mayor, Joan Ribó pre­ València Capital del Disseny (Valencian Association Design Capital),
sented a document titled “Strategy for the development and positioning which promoted the World Design Capital Valencia, 2022 candidacy.
of Valencia as a City of Music Musical (hereinafter VCOM)" to the media This is why most of those involved are designers and, to a lesser extent,
(Ajuntament de València, 2019). In reality, this strategy was based only people linked to the business world, with the idea of contributing to
on a report prepared by the Department of Applied Economics and better management and dissemination of creation in the design field.
whose content is not public. Its content focused solely on the idea of The association is funded through the Valencia City Council, the Gen­
convening the professional music sector in a large gathering under the eralitat Valenciana [Valencian Government] and the Valencian Institute
City of Music aegis (Diari La Veu, 2020). In the press conference, this of Business Competitiveness, with the promotion of the Visit València,
measure was announced as having already been agreed and in 2020 it La Marina de València and Feria València identities, and with the sup­
was stated that a commissioner would be appointed to direct the new port of design professionals and companies in the sector. However, most
Valencia City Music Office. Two events paralysed the measure’s imple­ of the funding comes from public sources, both from the local govern­
mentation. One was the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought musical ment (€2.2 million) and the regional government (€2.25 million) and —
activity to a standstill. The other was the physical deterioration of the to a much lesser extent — from private entities making a small contri­
Palau de la Música (forcing its use as an auditorium to be suspended) and bution (€0.2 million euros) (World Design Capital Valencia, 2022
the entity’s worsening finances. Even though both problems have been 2020b).
overcome, the project has yet to recover from these setbacks even The WDC emerges in a favourable context with opportunities at
though the councillor was re-appointed in 2019 until 2023. The City various levels, (1) At the State level: a Non-Law Proposal launched by
Council has given no reasons for putting the project on ice until further the Spanish Parliament that seeks to develop a national design strategy;
notice (Camacho, 2021). (2) At the regional level it is understood that a change in production
Overall, we can highlight some features of the City of Music project model is needed and why it was decided to promote the ‘Orange Econ­
and how it differs from the initial UNESCO candidacy project. For omy’ through the Ministry of Finance and Economy’s Model, which is
convenience’s sake, we have grouped these comparisons under three also reflected in the various strategic plans prepared by the Ministry of
heads: Culture: Fes Cultura (Generalitat Valenciana, 2016) and Cultura per a la
recuperació (culture for recovery, a cultural post-COVID-19 plan) (Mar­
(A) The first project’s main goal was to foster participation and cul­ rades et al., 2021). The creation of the Valencian Agency for Innovation
tural rights along the lines proposed by UNESCO (2017). By and the Employment Service (SERVEF), the General Directorate of
contrast, the VCOM project’s goal sought to foster Valencia’s Internationalization of the Ministry of Sustainable Economy, Productive
international image. Sectors, Trade and Work, and Valencian Archive project are also note­
(B) In the first project, the participation of the amateur sector of the worthy initiatives in the design field; (3) At the local level, the presen­
city’s brass bands, traditional music, and grassroots schools was tation of the candidacy also coincides with projects such as Las Naves or
announced as a community-based initiative. By contrast, the the Valencia Marine Consortium, which participate in redesigning
VCOM’s goal was to satisfy the demands of the professional music coastal Valencia through design-thinking; and (4) From the outset, the
sector such as licenses to play live music in bars, aid to concert project had the support of other bodies and institutions outside the City
halls, and expansion of street performance spaces (Garsan, 2022). Council such as Feria València, Valencia Provincial Council, design
training centres, the Congress Palace, and Valencian Tourism Founda­
Finally, in the first case, development was proposed of a multilevel, tion (see Fig. 1).
cross-cutting governance candidacy involving all public administrations Despite this multilevel governance, the project has been conducted at
and music sectors. By contrast, the VCOM proposed hiring private the local and regional levels, which politically and financially under­
consultants to direct cultural branding such as Sound Diplomacy, write the project. The PSPV has long been in favour of designating
without social participation and placing special emphasis on the revi­ Valencia as the seat of the World Design Capital. This was expressed by
talisation of the music industry sector, festivals and live music (Devís & the Deputy Mayor of Valencia City Council Sandra Gómez, the President
Álvaro, 2020) — an approach commonly found in other Music Cities of the Valencian Regional Government, Ximo Puig, and the former
(Darchen et al., 2022, pp. 1–15). In short, in this case we can see how a Minister Pedro Duque and Minister Diana Morant as public represen­
project based on the notion of cultural rights set out in the incoming tatives of the Government’s Ministry of Science and Innovation. This
government’s initial proposal came to nothing as it turned into yet support can be seen both in the press and on social media (Contreras,
another scheme to put Valencia on the map — in other words, more 2022; Garsan, 2022), where the Vice Mayor advocates a Valencia that is
instrumentalization of culture as a branding tool. the cradle of an emerging, diversified culture and a leader in creativity.
She also shows her support for the members of the WDC in Valencia
4.1. World Design Capital: changes and continuities in the branding of the (Xavi Calvo and Marisa Guillén) to make these things happen (see
creative city Fig. 2). Furthermore, the Generalitat’s (regional government) President
Ximo Puig called for " inclusive, social design” with Valencia as its world
The World Design Capital award came about over sixty years ago. capital (La Vanguardia, 2020) (see Fig. 3).
The purpose of the award was to foster the design profession over the The Mayor’s Office of the Valencia City Council, led by Compromís,
course of a year. Every two years, a new city gets the award, for example, has also favoured the project, which has been publicly supported by
Turin in 2008, Seoul in 2010, and Valencia in 2022. Its main goals are to: public officials belonging to the Party. The current Mayor of Valencia,
(a) get companies and organizations to take design into account; (b) Joan Ribó, reaffirmed the municipal government’s commitment to the
create opportunities for stakeholders; (c) show new methodologies candidacy. Once Valencia had been chosen as The Capital of Design, he
applied to design; (d) highlight design innovations; (e) boost the tourist highlighted how Valencia was preparing to host the various WDC ac­
attractiveness of cities. Finally, in the case of Valencia, the Creative City tivities (including the National Innovation and Design Awards) in the
paradigm was given greater stress, with great reliance on design as a key city. Regarding the representatives of Compromís in the Corts Valencianes
element for social transformation: “World Design Capital Valencia 2022, (Valencian Parliament), it should be noted that they are also committed
2020b; World Design Capital Valencia, 2022 seeks to convert design as a to the WDC. Mónica Oltra, the Vice President of the Valencian Regional
tool for imagining innovative solutions to great urban challenges” Government in 2019, ‘tweeted’ her support, welcoming the designation

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J. Rius-Ulldemolins and P. Díaz-Solano City, Culture and Society 34 (2023) 100535

Fig. 1. The discourse on “Truly” Putting Valencia on the map.

Note: From right to left, from top to bottom, 1) Compromís Valencia (Consol Castillo and Jordi Peris): “put Valencia on the welfare map, 2) Pere Fuset (Councilman
for Innovation: “World Design Capital (…) a good motivation to put the City on the map and gain self-esteem”.

Fig. 2. Valencia city of design as urban brand (2022).

Source: the authors.

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J. Rius-Ulldemolins and P. Díaz-Solano City, Culture and Society 34 (2023) 100535

Fig. 3. Political support for the City of Design 2022

Sources: Image 1. Tweet by Sandra Gómez, Deputy Mayor of Valencia about the realization of the WDC. Source: Twitter (@SanGomezLopez). Image 2. The Mayor of
Valencia Joan Ribó at the National Innovation and Design Awards. Source: Twitter (@joanribo). March 21, 2022.

of Valencia as Design Capital and contrasting this with the previous PP the Forum is actually a set of 17 round tables chaired by City Council­
government’s mostly unsuccessful to put the city on the map and finally lors, with experts from other administrations and sectoral business
the damage to the city’s reputation due to the corruption scandals in the agents and entities taking part (Valencia City Council 2022b). In addi­
City of Arts and Sciences, the Valencian Institute of Modern Arts or tion, although some round tables were proposed as a response to urban
Formula 1 circuit during this period (see Fig. 2) (Rius-Ulldemolins, Flor problems, in general they cover local institutional architecture and do
Moreno, and Hernàndez 2019; Aimeur, 2015; Nieto, 2015). Moreover, not enshrine the cross-cutting cooperation needed to solve complex
the project has been developed in cooperation with the local creative urban issues. For example, it is significant that the Forum has one round
community — in stark contrast with the PP’s approach in an earlier stab table for the Creative City and another for Cultural Management. Each is
at urban branding. The WDC plan was to create a permanent Local presided over by a Councillor, reflecting two cultural areas, one in the
Design Council, a project that would comprise two stages: (1) Drafting a hands of the Socialists and the other of Compromís, even though both
report analysing the relationship between design and the city; (2) The fields should be part of the same seamless approach.
creation of the city’s Design Council, the first in Spain (WDC Valencia On the Conference, a report was presented on the city’s progress
2022, 2022). towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within Valencia’s urban
However, if the means to put Valencia on the map differ (i.e. by strategy and the 2030 Agenda (València City Council 2022a). Although
taking a more professional, locally-rooted approach), the end goal is still the forum is supposedly participation-friendly, attendance requires
to promote urban branding. Likewise, the language used on creativity’s electronic registration (which admittedly is free) but with limited places
scope for spurring local development continues to recall the PP gov­ available. Furthermore, there is no plan for fostering participation,
ernment’s cultural policy. Here, one should note that the previous drawing up of proposals, or voting by attendees. Although citizens may
government focused on major cultural events and cultural instrumen­ formally submit proposals and the City Council says it will consider
talization serving Spanish national branding. The present government them, there is no commitment on its part to carry them out or even
seeks “an impact that is capable of promoting the Spain brand interna­ respond to them in a reasoned manner. Thus, in the report of the
tionally” (World Design Capital Valencia, 2022 2020a7). In other words, meetings held on May 25, 2025 about the creative city published on the
the language has changed somewhat but the underlying goals of entre­ web (see Fig. 4), the local government has limited itself to announcing
preneurial regionalism on ‘Calatrava Model’ lines remain unchanged. that the prioritized strategy has been “innovation, culture and sustain­
able tourism" (Ajuntament de València, 2023). Thus, the action and
project chosen (without informing in which election process this
4.2. Urban Forum Valencia 2030: participatory process or urban conclusion has been reached) is “Create a cultural agenda for citizens,
branding campaign? provide communication facilities by the institutions to strengthen the
cultural fabric and the initiatives for the development of cultural
One of the promoters of this strategy encouraged by the Mayor’s entrepreneurship projects” (Ajuntament de València, 2023). In other
Office is Jordi Peris, a professor at the Polytechnic University of words, both the strategic line and the actions and projects are so generic
Valencia, a specialist in cooperation and social participation (Boni et al., and indefinite that, ultimately, it does not imply any commitment for the
2014). The former leader of Podemos from 2015 to 2019 joined the local government in the development of a more sustainable cultural
Compromís candidacy in 2019 and, although he was not elected to the policy and, on the contrary, they recover the pro-entrepreneurial lan­
Council, he was given the position of Special Commissioner in the new guage of the city. creative. This amounts to a very limited conception on
government. His new post as General Coordinator of Urban Strategy and social participation, as show in their government plan resulting of: the
Sustainable Agenda sums up this new entrepreneurial, creative strategy City Social Council del Plan Valencia Urban Strategy. It is made up of
under the aegis of the new government’s sustainability paradigm. His individuals selected by the local government and has only a Council
main mission has been to organise a 2030 Urban Forum Conference to function and not an executive one (Ajuntament de València, 2022b).
address metropolitan, climate, urban and mobility challenges. Overall, although the Urban Forum of Barcelona is presented as a space
Although the proposal is presented as participatory, the truth is that

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J. Rius-Ulldemolins and P. Díaz-Solano City, Culture and Society 34 (2023) 100535

Fig. 4. Results of the participation process of Urban Forum Valencia 2030 (2022).
Source: Ajuntament de València (2023).

for participation, but it has represented more of a space for the pro­ for the sector that would speed up procedures to facilitate the pro­
motion of the local government strategy and its strategies towards a gramming of live music in the city. Yet to the surprise of many social
neo-creative city. agents involved, the project has been suspended indefinitely. We veri­
fied, that this project has effectively abandoned goals of cultural
5. Conclusions democratization of the City Council’s policies and now focuses on the
creative paradigm, with rhetoric on citizen participation and sustain­
In the last decade we observed changes and continuities in the cre­ ability being tacked on as an afterthought. However, these plans never
ative paradigm, partly motivated by the growing evidence of its unde­ came to fruition, so the Council’s cultural policies were limited to
sirable effects and the exhaustion of medium-term projects (d’Ovidio & continuing with the inertia of earlier programming while seeking to
Cossu, 2017; Comunian, 2011), which leave in its wake large underused decentralize culture and democratizing its access. Yet all the while, there
infrastructures, debts and even international image problems (Riu­ was no plan that would have given such cultural policies greater depth.
s-Ulldemolins & Gisbert, 2019). That is why in both the academic world By contrast, the World Design Capital (WDC) arose from a desire to
and in UNESCO, there is a shift taking place in the Creative City concept, capitalize on an outstanding sector of the Valencian creative fabric,
with a need being seen for more sustainable cultural policies but without starting from a historical heritage of local design based on the furniture
abandoning the entrepreneurial approach for fostering local develop­ industry, ceramics, design graphic, and projecting it jointly under a local
ment (Throsby, 2017; UNESCO, 2017). brand. In addition, it is linked to international networks, as well as
This is heralded as a shift from elitist schemes based on large in­ discourses on inclusion, participation and sustainability (World Design
vestments and detached from the creative professional fabric, to pro­ Capital Valencia, 2022 2020a) promoted by UNESCO (2017). Thus the
grammes fostering public value goals and involving hundreds of agents, World Design Capital seems to be an alternative model to the great
as found in the Literary Cities (Maria Patricio-Mulero et al., 2017) and globalized events divorced from local needs, such as Formula 1 urban
Music Cities (Darchen et al., 2022, pp. 1–15) initiatives. This approach racing circuit laid out in the city in the previous decade (Rius-Ullde­
to the Creative City sponsored by UNESCO (Rosi, 2014) has driven this molins & Gisbert, 2019) — an approach that has sparked growing op­
change, in which creativity, participation and sustainability are com­ position to its inefficiency, marginalization of creators, and its naked
mon slogans, revealing a political change in both substance and form. political instrumentalization of culture to serve industry and branding
However, there is no rupture but rather continuity in the form of a goals (d’Ovidio & Cossu, 2017; Patricio Mulero and Rius-Ulldemolins
mutation of the Creative City paradigm (Pratt, 2008; Redaelli, 2020), as 2017). In stark contrast to this approach, the WDC seeks to draw on
we have seen in the case of Valencia. local elements such as the city’s strength in both design and designers,
On the one hand, València Music City was presented as an urban the commitment of public institutions, and a host of private associations.
branding opportunity focused on the live music sector, and was very However, the WDC’s evaluation states that: (i) the tourist impact and
well received by the main professionals in the sector. Beyond the big urban image are stressed just as much as in the past ‘City of Events’
announcements and the expectations created by the Council, the project model; (ii) that professional designers have only noticed a slight
was not particularly ambitious. In essence, it created a ‘one-stop shop’ improvement in the influence they wield (Garsan, 2022).

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J. Rius-Ulldemolins and P. Díaz-Solano City, Culture and Society 34 (2023) 100535

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