Cities, Museums and Soft Power

Description

Museum planners Gail Lord and Ngaire Blankenberg demonstrate how museums and cities are using their soft power to address some of the most important issues of our time.Soft power is the exercise of influence through attraction, persuasion, and agenda-setting rather than military or economic coercion.Thirteen of the world's leading museum and cultural experts from six continents explore the many facets of soft power in cities and museums: how it amplifies civic discourse, accelerates cultural change, and contributes to contextual intelligence among the great diversity of city dwellers, visitors, and policy makers. The authors urge city governments to embrace museums which so often are the signifiers of their cities, increasing real estate values while attracting investment, tourists, and creative workers. Lord and Blankenberg propose 32 practical strategies for museums and cities to activate their soft power and create thriving and sustainable communities. Contents Acknowledgements Preface • Richard Florida 1. Introduction: Why Cities, Museums and Soft Power • Gail Dexter Lord and Ngaire Blankenberg 2. The Economics of Museums and Cities • Javier Jimenez 3. Museums in Public Diplomacy • Federica Olivares 4. London’s Knowledge Quarter: The Soft Power of Museums in the Knowledge Economy and Urban Development • Baillie Card 5. Museums in the Age of Brazilian Soft Power • Gegê Leme Joseph 6. Museums as Signifiers in the Gulf • Hayfa Matar 7. When Soft Powers Collide • Ngaire Blankenberg 8. Unearthing the Genius Loci of Museums in the Indian Subcontinent • Batul Raaj Mehta 9. Cultural Nomads: Creative People on the Road • Robert Punkenhofer 10. Cranking Up the Soft Power Engine of Chinese Museums • An Laishun 11. A Tale of Two Civil and Human Rights Cities • Gail Dexter Lord and Joy Bailey Bryant 12. Cairo and Its Museums: From Multiculturalism to Leadership in Sustainable Development • Mohamed Gamal Rashed 13. Global and Local: Fairs and Biennials,Translation: Marina Ramirez Temporary Urbanism and Pop-Up Museums • Lourdes Fernández 14. The Museum Building Boom • Guido Guerzoni 15. Thirty-two Ways for Museums to Activate Their Soft Power • Ngaire Blankenberg and Gail Dexter Lord Authors Bibliography Index