Abstract
Culture and Economy provide two essential foundations for life. Although the materialistic focus of economy may be considered an antipode to the more intangible and idealistic focus of culture, both have in fact various intersections. Culture represents an important factor with regard to international competition and cultural activities play a critical role in both social innovation and economic development. Cultural work encourages creative impulses and engenders new sources of supply.#Most of the research carried out on the interplay of culture and economy concentrates on metropolitan areas, on cities and regions which are traditionally connected to cultural production, such as London or Berlin. The ideal conditions for cultural innovation are perceived to reside within an urban environment, and cultural supply is principally perceived as location factor for cities and urban areas. The focus of this book differs in that it pays particular attention on culture and creativity in non-metropolitan areas and on the potential differences between rural and metropolitan areas concerning the interplay of culture and economy. This publication includes contributions which have successfully passed a two-stage, double-blind, peer review process and have been presented and discussed at the Scientific Conference 'Culture and Creativity as Location Factors - looking beyond Metropolitan Areas', organized by the European Academy of Bolzano-Bozen together with the Department of Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism of the University of Innsbruck in June 2008.