WORKING PAPER - Measurement of social and cultural infrastructure Vision and approach

The concepts of social and cultural infrastructure are relatively recent additions to the categorisation of infrastructure in public policy circles, and they are typically taken to refer to a distinct subset of the wider category of infrastructure that supports activities that are central to the identity, function and cohesion of communities. [...] We argue that an understanding of the potential traps that the characteristics of thick concepts in general, and infrastructure in particular, represent, will help to develop measures that reflect the multiple and complex roles that social and cultural infrastructure plays in the lives of people and communities. [...] Towards a definition of cultural infrastructure Within the broader category of infrastructure are the concepts of social and cultural infrastructure that are the focus of this project. [...] Analysts seeking to understand and measure the contours of the cultural 13 Measurement of social and cultural infrastructure Vision and approach infrastructure of an area need to be transparent about the assumptions behind choices that are made around inclusion and exclusion, and ready and willing to justify and argue for these. [...] Such an approach steers away from the bias towards a privileged set of artistic and ‘high’ cultural forms and mediums, which has long been an object of criticism in relation to arts funding and provision and encourages the recognition that a much wider range of spaces and places are integral to the cultural lives of communities and the creative potential of its members.