--- title: More Regional Trends date: 2025-10-13T05:42:50Z modified: 2025-10-13T10:52:56Z permalink: "https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/report/5th-edition/regional-cultural-policy-trends/" type: report status: publish excerpt: From Indigenous knowledge in Australasia to digital innovation in East Asia, cities are using culture to shape more inclusive, sustainable, and creative futures. Drawing on recent survey data and case study submissions from our cities, this section offers a snapshot of emerging cultural policy trends across regions.  While each region has its own distinctive priorities, common themes such as access to space, climate action, youth engagement, and equity, highlight the extent to which all major cities share similar challenges in defining tomorrow’s cultural landscape. wpid: 174110 tags: - Climate action - Cultural Infrastructure - Equity & Inclusion - Heritage - Innovation - youth engagement topic: - Communities - Creative Economy - Creative Space - Education - Festivals & Events - Policymaking - Public Art - Sustainability - Sustainable Tourism - World Cities Culture Report featured_image: "https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/roc-sun-NZcCDKK5DYw-unsplash-scaled.jpg" --- ###### A Snapshot of Other Regional Trends > > ![](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/39-1024x637.png) The Forbidden City, Beijing. Photo on Unsplash.From Indigenous knowledge in Australasia to digital innovation in East Asia, cities are using culture to shape more inclusive, sustainable, and creative futures. Drawing on recent survey data and case study submissions from our cities, this section offers a snapshot of emerging cultural policy trends across regions. While each region has its own distinctive priorities, common themes such as access to space, climate action, youth engagement, and equity, highlight the extent to which all major cities share similar challenges in defining tomorrow’s cultural landscape. **AUSTRALASIA** _Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney_ - **First Nations First**: Cities are embedding Indigenous knowledge and leadership into policy and public space through initiatives like **Melbourne’s** Aboriginal Arts Grants. - **Creative Space Protection**: Rising land costs are driving innovative solutions to secure affordable cultural infrastructure and artist workspaces in **Sydney**. - **Climate and Culture**: Growing use of the arts in climate action through sustainable festivals, artist residencies, and public engagement, including **Melbourne’s** Refuge programme. - **Youth and Talent Development**: Ensuring support for young and underrepresented creatives such as **Melbourne’s** Warehouse Residency for deaf and disabled artists. - **Inclusive Streetscapes**: Partnering with private organisations and developers to embed public art that represents the cities communities from **Sydney’s** Creative Hoardings to new development partnerships. **EAST ASIA** _Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo_ - **Digital Culture as Urban Infrastructure**: **Nanjing’s** immersive exhibitions and **Tokyo’s** Civic Creative Base embed digital tools in culture, while **Chengdu** supports creative tech startups and gaming industries. - **Heritage Protection and Promotion:** Cities revitalise tangible and intangible heritage from **Beijing’s** Central Axis to **Guangzhou’s** markets, and **Taipei’s** corporate investment in heritage initiatives. - **Expanding Creative Space**: Cities including **Taipei**, **Hong Kong**, and **Tokyo** expand innovative creative space schemes to support artists and counter land scarcity. - **Citizen-Centred Access**: Widing participation through initiatives from **Seoul’s** outdoor libraries, to **Nanjing’s** participatory arts activities. - **Internationalisation and Tourism:** Cities are boosting international profiles and visitor engagement from major global events in **Tokyo**, to **Nanjing’s** literary tourism, and **Guangzhou’s** design week. **EUROPE** _Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Cologne, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Helsinki, İstanbul, Kyiv, Lisbon, London, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich_ - **Inclusive Participation**: Decentralised programming in **Vienna** and **Milan** and participatory programming in **Paris**, **Lisbon** and **Zurich** are supporting citizen engagement. - **Sustainable Culture**: Cities are embedding climate action within cultural policy from **Edinburgh** Carbon Management Initiative to the **Helsinki** Biennial. - **Cultural Infrastructure & Space**: Supporting affordable access creative spaces in **London** and **Cologne**, to grant schemes in **Oslo** and **Stockholm**, new venues in **Warsaw** and heritage revitalisation in **İstanbul**. - **Night-Time culture:** Night-time strategies in cities like **Amsterdam** and **Dublin**, to ensuring safety in **Brussels**, and **Barcelona’s** Night-Time Commissioner, - **Equity & Decolonisation**: From **Amsterdam’s** National Slavery Museum to decolonisation initiatives in **Hamburg**, and street renaming in **Kyiv**, cities are prioritising confronting colonial legacies. **NORTH AMERICA** _Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver_ - **Securing funding:** from income through hotel taxes in **San Francisco,** to securing major decentralising funding in **New York**, to diversifying funding uplifts in **Toronto**, to **Vancouver’s** investment in community organisations and sports groups, cities are working to ensure financial stability and sustainability. - **Artists in Governance: Los Angeles** and **New York** are recognising the value of creativity by embedding artists within public agencies to co-create equitable policies and community engagement. - **Space as Infrastructure**: Protecting vulnerable creative space is an increasing priority from **Rally Austin’s Cultural Trust** for affordable space, to **New York’s** Create in Place programme for culture at risk, to **Boston’s** Making Space for Creative Enterprise transforming underutilised office and retail spaces and **Toronto’s** stabilisation of Artscape’s assets. - **Equity in the Public Realm**: **Chicago** and **San Francisco** are leading major community initiatives to rebalance the stories and perspectives memorialised in public space. - **Citizen Voice**: From including young people’s voices in **Montreal’s** cultural policy, to city wide consultation in **Chicago**, cities are increasing citizen voice in policymaking. **MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA** _Abu Dhabi, Dubai_ - **Public Art & Placemaking**: **Abu Dhabi’s** Public Art Biennial and **Dubai’s** Sikka Festival activate public spaces. - **Cultural Heritage Conservation**: A key policy area from conserving modern heritage in **Abu Dhabi** and supporting intangible cultural heritage. - **Creative Districts & Urban Regeneration**: from **Dubai’s** Al Quoz Creative Zone and **Istanbul’s** neighbourhood revitalisation foster vibrant cultural ecosystems. - **Cultural Infrastructure Development**: Saadiyat Cultural District in **Abu Dhabi** is establishing a world class cultural destination. - **Creative Economy & Opportunities**: Evidence is being captured in **Dubai’s** 2024 Creative Economy Impact Report. **SOUTH & SOUTHEAST ASIA** _Bengaluru, Jakarta_ - **Conserving Natural and Cultural Heritage:** Campaigns like **Bengaluru’s** ‘Wake the Lake’ and **Jakarta’s** heritage restoration projects turn conservation into community-building. - **Culture for Economic and Social Change:** **Jakarta’s** Museum for Local Economic Development and Betawi cultural villages link heritage with local development and wellbeing. - **Technology and Culture:** As regional tech hubs, **Bengaluru** celebrates its recent innovation legacy through a new Museum of Innovation, while Jakarta expands support for creative industries. - **Festivals and Experimental Practice:** Cities promote intergenerational creativity and inclusive participation through initiatives like Unboxing Bengaluru and **Jakarta’s** Canal Theatre. - **Design-Driven Cities:** **Bengaluru’s** policy applies design thinking across urban policy to improve liveability and foster creative solutions.