Kulturplanlægning som social innovation: om udvikling af biblioteksbaserede medborgercentre i udsatte boligområder i Danmark

Cultural planning has in recent years gained influence as a tool for strategic planning. This is seen especially in accordance with the turn toward «the creative city» and arts-based urban regeneration. Cultural planning as central component in growth focused urban development is increasingly criticized and this article chisels out and expands the critique. It builds on a specific strand of cultural planning research, namely what Greg Young coins as «culturized» planning. A strand that’s intrinsically territorial in its focus, aimed at cross cutting administrative sectors and broadly concerned with the mobilization of cultural resources and cultural institutions. The article adds to the growing literature on cultural planning by aligning it with recent research on social innovation and integrated area development. The empirical vantage point is an analysis of a concrete development project in disintegrated urban areas in Denmark – namely the formation of library based community centers. The analysis discusses the actual work done in the community centers during the time of the projects. The article concludes by stating, that culturized planning holds the potential to develop disadvantaged urban areas as well as cultural institutions.