"Where are your factories that produce culture? Where are your painters, your composers, your architects, your writers, your filmmakers?" The book opens with Leonardo da Vinci and Qin Shi Huang asking embarrassed contemporary policy makers these questions. The first part of the book is therefore devoted to elaborating a model for producing culture. The model takes into account both the role played by creativity in the production of culture in a technologically advanced knowledge society. The second part of the book examines a selection of strategic sectors: fashion, material culture districts, gastronomy, creative industries, entertainment, contemporary art, museums. Special attention is paid to the role collective intellectual property rights play in increasing the quality of culture-based goods and services. In the conclusion policy makers in both developed and developing countries are urged to adopt policies that can foster creativity and promote culture.

This compelling book offers a fresh and novel approach to study cultural and artistic expression from the perspective of 'the commons'. It demonstrates how identifying cultures as shared resources is useful in eliciting the main factors and social dilemmas affecting the production and evolution of cultural expression. Adopting the unifying perspective of 'the cultural commons', the chapters provide in-depth analysis of a wide range of cultural resources, including traditional cultural expression, heritage, gastronomy and cultural content in virtual worlds. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective and gathering contributions from economic, sociological and legal fields, this timely book proposes a new and complementary research agenda. Scholars and postgraduate students of cultural economics, cultural studies, and sociology of culture will find this authoritative and essential book invaluable. Contributors: C. Barrere, E. Bertacchini C. Bocchino, Q. Bonnard, P. Borrione, G. Bravo, A. Buzio, A. Carbone, V. Chossat, P. Fiorentino, M. Friel, X. Greffe, C. Hess, M. Marrelli, M. Murphree, A. Re, W. Santagata, A.J. Scott, M. Trimarchi, Y. Zhang

"Where are your factories that produce culture? Where are your painters, your composers, your architects, your writers, your filmmakers?" The book opens with Leonardo da Vinci and Qin Shi Huang asking embarrassed contemporary policy makers these questions. The first part of the book is therefore devoted to elaborating a model for producing culture. The model takes into account both the role played by creativity in the production of culture in a technologically advanced knowledge society. The second part of the book examines a selection of strategic sectors: fashion, material culture districts, gastronomy, creative industries, entertainment, contemporary art, museums. Special attention is paid to the role collective intellectual property rights play in increasing the quality of culture-based goods and services. In the conclusion policy makers in both developed and developing countries are urged to adopt policies that can foster creativity and promote culture.