Agglomeration makes sense for widgets. However, art is a good whose production process and finished versions are both “consumable” curiosities. This underscores art as a product of socio-cultural interaction, which is incapable of being cordoned off and isolated. Art is not a sideshow, and its integration with all aspects of urban life is a planning puzzle that many of the world’s most culturally developed cities have successfully solved.

Hartley_PGD_Arts Districts_Nov2014

Philippine Governance Digest Vol 1 Issue 2 (April-June 2014), pp. 17-18.