The Bilbao Effect: Can Cultural Landmarks Revive Declining Cities?

"Does pouring money into cultural landmarks actually regenerate run-down areas?... called "the Bilbao effect", after the reawakening of that grey Spanish provincial capital since Frank Gehry's silvery starburst, a local branch of the Guggenheim museum, opened there in 1997. Sometimes city planners like to talk about Barcelona. But whichever city is taken as the model, the idea is that culture, very broadly defined, can be used to revive declining places, and the idea of urban living in general. [Does] making culture a profit-generating rather than subsidy-consuming activity [work?]...whatever their methods, even the most spectacularly revived cities cannot build their way out all their problems."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan