Cultural Third Sector Organizations and Local Development: New Actors and Tools for Urban Regeneration in Deprived Contexts

The importance of the creative and cultural capital in the economic development of post industrial inner cities has been widely demonstrated by urban development literature as it interacts with the physical environment and sustains regeneration processes. However, also in depressed and peripheral neighbourhoods, creative firms, museums, nonprofit organizations, cultural associations, and independent artists can be identified as actors of substantial urban revitalization. In this regard, understanding the potential of art-based third sector organizations in the emergence of virtuous patterns in urban regeneration strategies is even more crucial. Starting from an institutional economics perspective, the main purpose of this contribution is to review the literatures about the not-for-profit sector and the cultural and creative economy, in order to merge the two previous approaches through the common ground of social innovation. Within the general framework of urban redevelopment processes through specific not-for-profit models and tools, this article also aims to build questions about the role these actors may play as engines of urban regeneration to be addressed through further empirical research.