---
title: Affordable Space
type: taxonomy_archive
taxonomy: topic
slug: affordable-space
term_id: 677
permalink: "https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/topic/affordable-space/"
post_count: 6
---

# Affordable Space

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.
- [Trends](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/city/trends.md) — Key trends in the City of Adelaide, from legislation protecting live music venues to new innovation districts and co-working spaces.
- [Cultural Strategy: How Sydney plans to retain creative talent and diversify cultural leadership](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/city-project/sydney-cultural-strategy-2025-2035.md) — Launched in 2025, Cultural Strategy 2025–2035 is Sydney’s roadmap to rebuild and reimagine its cultural life post-pandemic and amid rising living costs. Backed by AUD 2 million annually in new grants programs, the strategy provides direct income support for artists, secures creative workspaces, and expands leadership opportunities for underrepresented groups. With plans for a Creative Land Trust and a strong equity focus, the strategy aims to grow cultural participation, retain talent, and ensure culture thrives across every part of the city.
- [START Box Tokyo’s creative affordable workspaces](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/city-project/tokyo-start-box.md) — Land prices in Tokyo surged post-Covid which led to increased rents for artist studios and gallery spaces. So in 2023, Tokyo launched START Box, a project to let out vacant spaces – owned by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture and other partners – as creative workspaces at affordable rates to local artists. By the end of 2024, 45 artists used the spaces to create, collaborate and display their work.
- [How Toronto responded to the insolvency of Toronto Artscape Inc.](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/city-project/toronto-artscape-insolvency-response.md) — In 2023, the collapse of non-profit developer Artscape threatened 14 affordable cultural properties and nearly 400 tenancies. The City of Toronto responded with swift legal, operational, and financial action - securing a court ruling to protect 91% of tenancies from sale and providing emergency property management. Working with community partners, the City mobilised to save the remaining 9% of tenancies, enabling tenant-led ownership of key sites and backing Canada’s first cultural land trust. The intervention preserved critical infrastructure and created a new model for cultural resilience.
- [Creative Space: How Austin’s Cultural Trust has developed affordable art spaces ](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/city-project/rally-austin-cultural-trust-for-affordable-art-space-2.md) — Launched in 2020, Rally Austin (formerly AEDC) protects Austin’s cultural identity by creating affordable cultural spaces through public real estate tools. Its Cultural Trust supports venues in key districts, including The Hole in the Wall and The Broken Spoke. With USD 152 million in active projects, Rally Austin is pioneering a model of artist-led stewardship, ensuring long-term affordability and sustainability for the city’s creative infrastructure.