---
title: Opinion
type: taxonomy_archive
taxonomy: category
slug: opinion
term_id: 321
permalink: "https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/category/opinion/"
post_count: 6
---

# Opinion

Posts in this archive: 6

- [The World’s Emptying Villages: Could Creative Cities Hold the Key?](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/the-worlds-emptying-villages-could-creative-cities-hold-the-key.md) — Walk through rural Japan and you will find many abandoned homes: doors left ajar, gardens overgrown, teacups still on shelves. Japan now has approximately 9 million of these empty properties - known as akiya - double the number from thirty years ago, as younger generations leave for cities and never return.  In Italy, more than 70 towns have introduced schemes selling abandoned houses for as little as one euro - not as a real estate bargain, but as a last attempt to save entire communities from extinction . Across Europe, rural depopulation is steadily hollowing out villages, emptying buildings and slowly eroding centuries of cultural heritage. 

Meanwhile, in those same years, cities have been filling up. Rents have exploded. Creative communities that built the cultural identity of neighbourhoods in Amsterdam, Berlin and Seoul have been pushed to the margins — priced out, squeezed out, worn out. Two-thirds of all global population growth between now and 2050 is projected to occur in cities . The pressure will only intensify.  

We have been treating these as two separate problems. They are one.
- [Culture After Dark: Three Ways Cities Are Supercharging the Night-Time Economy](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/culture-after-dark-three-ways-cities-are-supercharging-the-night-time-economy.md) — Cities from Guangzhou to Toronto are increasingly placing culture at the heart of their night-time economies. Our 5th Edition World Cities Culture Report  shows that what was once an overlooked policy area is now firmly mainstream: 97% of cities are actively supporting night-time initiatives.
- [Cities Step Forward: How Pedestrianisation is Powering Culture in the Streets ](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/pedestrianisation-cultural-tool-inclusive-cities.md) — From Barcelona to Bogotá, cities are embracing the power of pedestrianisation. By turning roads into people-first spaces, they are opening streets to culture, creativity and community life
- [Culture matters. So why is it always treated as an optional extra?](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/culture-matters-so-why-is-it-always-treated-as-an-optional-extra.md) — In London one in every five jobs is a creative one, yet these industries don’t get the attention they deserve.All around us culture is making a difference, often profoundly. Dance is reducing dementia, opera is helping rebuild Covid-damaged lungs and theatre is helping young people at risk find a positive new life path. Culture is revitalising neighbourhoods, building communities and dare I say it — hope. On the flip-side, when politicians do back culture, the rewards are immense.
- [Is the power shift in cultural education driven by cities? ](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/is-the-power-shift-in-cultural-education-driven-by-cities.md) — Statistics from NASA reveal that 98% of 5-year-old children fall into the "genius category of imagination." However, this number drops to 12% for 15-year-olds and further decreases to 2% for adults. It's disheartening that many schools don’t focus enough on developing curiosity and creativity.
- [Why culture and the arts are crucial to the city recovery post-pandemic](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/why-culture-and-the-arts-are-crucial-to-the-uks-recovery-post-pandemic.md) — It would be easy to see culture as an optional extra in the midst of the vast challenges cities around the world are facing. But that would be a grave mistake.