The experience turn of the Danish periphery: The downscaling of new spatial strategies

Abstract

This article discusses the new wave of spatial development strategies in small, peripheral municipalities, based on the notion of the experience economy as a local response to the challenges of globalization and industrial restructuring. The notion of the experience economy, originally derived from strategic management, is more encompassing than the related notion of cultural economy, and its application in urban strategies aims to promote (1) new forms of business innovation, (2) the development of new industries and (3) the development of place as a factor of attraction. The article proceeds to describe the extent to which this perception has been integrated into urban strategies in North Denmark, and the associated local discourses and institutional practices. One municipality, Frederikshavn, is described and analysed in more detail. In this municipality the experience economy has been constructed by the initiatives of public, private and civic actors over more than a decade, until it finally became institutionalized in official municipal policy and organizations. The many initiatives materialized in a considerable enhancement of the local cultural and leisure supply, urban refurbishment, business innovation and a change of urban image from industrial city to experience city. The experience economy mainly became institutionalized as a reinterpretation and development of welfare services from a consumer perspective. As a municipal strategy the experience economy concept is faced with two problems: the municipal scale is not adequate to change the economic and demographic fate of peripheral localities, and enhancing the quality of place and image can be only part of the response to the serious challenges facing them.

Keywords

Experience economy local development strategic planning urban development

Introduction

Small cities in many countries strive to find alternative paths of development when faced with the decline of their traditional industries and demographic shrinkage. Production-orientated development policies are being substituted by consumption-based policies (settlement, tourism) and by culture-led development approaches (culture planning, creativity). In many ways these policies try to copy the approaches of successful metropolises such as Barcelona and Bilbao, with varying results. The academic interest in the cultural–political economy of small cities first emerged in Canada (Garret-Petts, 2005), the USA (Ofori-Amoah, 2007), Australia (Waitt and Gibson, 2009) and the UK (Bell and Jayne, 2006), and has recently begun to spread to other regions (Lorentzen and Van Heur, 2012). There is still a documented need for more research on small cities (Bell and Jayne, 2009; Jayne et al., 2010) and the role of culture and creativity in the urban periphery (Gibson, 2010). The post-industrial strategies of Scandinavian cities have, until now, been discussed in terms of destination development, place branding and experiential qualities (Allingham, 2009; Lassen et al., 2009; Marling et al., 2009). This article discusses the Scandinavian, and in particular the Danish, soft urban development strategies of small cities of the periphery that have emerged in the new millennium. It shows that the Danish strategies are generally broad and encompassing, addressing consumption and lifestyle as a matter of the experience economy and experiential leisure opportunities and services. They are not cultural policies in the Anglo-Saxon sense, but are all-encompassing territorial strategies – involving a change of discourse and of governance – and are characterized by a high degree of localism. The article is innovative in analysing the Danish discourse on experience-based development and the way in which it is implemented as a local development device in small cities of the periphery.

This article begins by establishing the conceptual framework for the study. It identifies the overall structural challenges of small cities and the pressures they face to enhance territorial competitiveness. It unfolds the changing role of cultural policies and the ways in which small cities try to utilize culture in development policies. Scandinavian small city strategies are informed by strategic management logic and it is shown how experience economy concepts are transferable to the current territorial challenges of place competition and place identity. The empirical section provides an analysis of the recent planning strategies of 11 Danish peripheral municipalities and shows how the experience economy discourse is adapted and transformed to the local context. The individual case study of Frederikshavn substantiates how the new approach to urban development is expressed in innovative urban imaging, the mobilization of multiple new urban actors and networks, through multiple projects and visible physical changes, and via changes in urban governance. The conclusion underlines the innovative potential of experience-based strategies for small cities in terms of urban imaging and perceptions and the mobilization of urban potentials, but finds that serious structural challenges would nevertheless require more direct responses.

Conceptual framework

Small cities in the processes of peripheralization

Historically, economic activity has become increasingly centralized as a result of industrialization because of its need for big labour markets and transportation nodes (Hayter, 1998). As production in the advanced countries became still more knowledge intensive, access to knowledge sources such as research centres and institutions of higher learning became key to the competitive advantage of industries (World Bank, 1999). This implies an increasing role of large cities as providers of the key factor of knowledge and creativity for innovation (Scott, 1997, 2006; Van den Berg et al., 2004). In connection with the need for creativity, ‘quality of place’ has been suggested as a very important factor of location for creative labour, and of firms seeking this kind of labour (Florida, 2002; Nevarez, 2003). In parallel, it has been argued that consumption, more than jobs, can be identified as a driving force behind the growth of cities today (Glaeser et al., 2001). The interest in urban attractiveness has caused researchers, such as Clark (2004a: 103), to ask whether ‘lakes, opera, and juice bars’ drive development. Demographically, Clark was able to document that amenities affect population growth. In the academic world the idea of consumption-based urban growth has been contested by Kotkin (2005) and Storper and Scott (2009), who instead point at productive investment as being central to growth. It is, however, documented that highly educated labour concentrates in big cities, where amenities tend to abound (Lorenzen and Andersen, 2007). It is thus no wonder that public officials are eager to market the city’s opportunities for cultural consumption by developing new cultural industries and expanding cultural institutions (Zukin, 1998).

While the knowledge economy prospers in big cities, localities outside of such cities have less possibility to develop along post-industrial paths, as they often lack a critical mass of highly skilled labour and knowledge institutions. Small cities outside of the metropolitan regions tend to become ‘shrinking cities’ (Holländer et al., 2009), although they are very heterogeneous in both structural and relational terms (Lorentzen and Van Heur, 2012). Smallness is not only material in nature (size, location) but also discursive, a state of mind (Jayne et al., 2010: 1413). Furthermore, multiple forces shape the fates of small cities in a dynamic process across different scales, reaching from, for example, local planning to national infrastructure projects to global flows of tourists and capital. Opportunities also exist to engage in multi-scalar strategies and extend their influence and reach through telecommunication networks and urban imaginaries (Jayne et al., 2010: 1413–1414). With globalization, competition between firms as well as territories becomes intensified. Small cities also compete and construct localized spatial strategies (Brenner, 2004; Healey, 2007) aimed at enhancing their distinctiveness (Turok, 2009). Such spatial strategies may be demanding in terms of public resources for new facilities. In general, the focus of the state on every level has been said to change from welfare provision to entrepreneurship and local growth (Brenner, 2004). Small and big cities compete globally for investment, citizens and tourists, and new actors and alliances emerge to promote places, drawing on public as well as private sector resources (Healey, 2007: 18). Large cities such as Bilbao and Barcelona have been in focus in connection with spatial strategies (González, 2011) and small cities often copy the strategies of large cities, but with fewer institutional and financial resources and with mixed results (Ofori-Amoah, 2007: 349). On the one hand, new urban images imported from elsewhere may lack material foundation in small cities. However, alternative discourses may involve the mobilization of new urban resources (e.g. actor networks, multi-scalar alliances). Spatial development strategies on different scales have increasingly focused on consumption-based development opportunities, in particular on the role of culture for settlement, tourism and entrepreneurship.

Culture planning as spatial strategy

Culture has increasingly become part of local and urban strategies. According to Bianchini (1993), this instrumentalism dates from the 1970s. Cultural policy since the 1970s has served as an important component of urban regeneration strategies, not only in physical terms but also in economic terms, as a result of a general decentralization of government during the 1970s. Rather than welfare provision, culture should contribute to improving the image of needy cities in order to attract investment and create jobs (Bianchini, 1993: 2). Accordingly, the content of cultural policy has been widening, from highbrow culture to broader forms of expression and consumption. The strategic perspective on culture did not completely outcompete the welfare arguments, however, and the tension exists between the two approaches to culture provision to this day (Bianchini, 1993: 3).

In 2005 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published an overview of the different approaches to cultural and local development (OECD, 2005). Understood broadly as values and norms, culture can shape the behaviour of individuals and communities and, for example, foster local networks and entrepreneurship and increase people’s sense of belonging. Understood more narrowly as various cultural activities such as built heritage and landscape enhancement, museums, live entertainment and festivals, art markets and so on, culture may attract tourists and visitors and create multiplier effects in the local economy. The creation of cultural products, consumed elsewhere, and the clustering of cultural producers in an area may also enhance the local economy through export revenues. This is the ‘cultural economy’ (Scott, 1997, 2000) known to prosper mainly in big cities. Finally, cities may systematically use cultural resources to enhance their image, their environment and the living conditions.

Evans (2001, 2003, 2006) discusses cultural planning as a way of developing attractive cities. Apart from ‘culture’ in terms of art museums, galleries, theatres and concert halls, he includes historic museums and monuments, nightlife opportunities such as cafés, restaurants and nightclubs, and shopping. Cities today often brand themselves as cultural cities, mobilizing public–private partnerships around big flagship projects and spending a considerable amount of resources.

For urban strategists the role of image can be seen as particularly important, as cities and other localities compete for people and investment in an increasingly liberal and competitive environment. Goldhaber (1997) approaches this competition as a rivalry for attention; because attention is so scarce, and the economy is about the allocation of scarce resources, he talks about ‘an attention economy’. Löfgren visualizes this competition for attention when he talks about how places (in this case cities) perform on a ‘global catwalk’ by highlighting their cultural amenities (Löfgren, 2003).

As cultural policies have moved further down the urban hierarchy towards still smaller cities and even rural areas of the European periphery (Lorentzen, 2011; Nuur and Laestedius, 2009), the content of the policies has changed. Cultural policies have changed from high culture directed towards the urban elites to a broader understanding of culture involving a variety of leisure activities and entertainment with appeal to broader segments of the population (Clark, 2004b).

Recent cultural policies of small cities and peripheral areas have been the subject of research reported in Lorentzen and Van Heur (2012). These cultural policies focus on increasing the broad culture supply (Lorentzen, 2012), enhancing creativity (Hall and Donald, 2012) and developing creative networks (Bain and McLean, 2012), exploiting the rural historic past as a brand (Mapes, 2012) and developing the small city as a flagship project (Smidt-Jensen, 2012). This research shows that small cities certainly are able to produce and host culture and creativity as part of post-industrial urban strategies that are not just copied from big cities. The question remains, however, as to whether small cities following this trajectory will be able to challenge the wider structural context and change their position in the urban hierarchy (Lorentzen and Van Heur, 2012: 11–12).

Experience economy as local development

Academically a somewhat different, but parallel, approach started with Alvin Toffler, who saw an increasing demand for ‘psychic gratification’ (Toffler, 1970) as a driver behind the growth of ‘experience industries’. A whole provision system for experiences as a new sector of the economy would be the result. Thirty years later, Pine and Gilmore (1999) applied the term ‘experience economy’ to strategic management. They saw the experience economy as the latest stage of economic development starting with the agrarian, resource-extracting economy. They did not see the experience economy as a separate system of specialized experience makers, as Toffler did. Instead they found that most companies would be able to add value by experience-based product innovation. By involving the customer in innovative and entertaining ways the customer will be willing to pay more for the product. By being active the customer even creates his or her own product and identifies with it. The idea of co-production is also found in service marketing, where it is applied to increase customer loyalty (Bateson, 2002; Grönroos, 2004). At its core, the experience economy approach is focused on developing the consumer–producer relationship in innovative ways.

Cities today equally compete for citizens, tourists and businesses, which, by locating, staying or living in places, ‘consume’ them. It can therefore be argued that there is a parallel between the experience-based innovation of products on the one hand and the experience-based development of places on the other. People will be willing to pay higher rents and tourists will be willing to pay more for their hotel rooms if the place possesses experience qualities. Experience quality cannot be reduced to culture, however. It is much broader, and includes everything that makes life enjoyable. The definition of urban experience qualities differs between places and over time, evidently (Lorentzen and Hansen, 2009). These qualities may be related to natural surroundings and location in the landscape, the built environment, the offer of leisure activities, or the identity and atmosphere of the city. They may include the offer of culture activities, but also of sports, gastronomy and wellness, to mention a few. Experience-based urban strategies aim to develop the relationship between citizens/visitors on the one hand and the city on the other, to create an identity of place. From this perspective, small cities are not just miniatures of big cities, and they have their own potential related to landscape, industrial history, location and connectivity. Experience-based urban strategies of small cities often stress the recreational qualities and the particular sociability and lifestyle.

As a local development device the experience economy concept can be related to three dimensions of local development: (1) local producers may enhance their competitiveness by adding experiences to their products and services, and thus create new jobs; (2) job creation in new experience industries (arts, fashion, film, entertainment, etc.); and (3) the development of the locality as experience with attractive urban or environmental qualities. Culture can be mobilized in connection with experience-based strategies, and often is.

For peripheral places and small cities the first aspect (adding experiences to local products) and third aspect (the development of place as experience) hold more potential than the second (the development of experience industries), which takes place mostly in big cities. It has been shown how experience-based innovations are widespread in traditional branches such as the food industry (Arthur, 2008; Manniche and Larsen, 2012), and that, in small cities and peripheral regions, the development of experience facilities and activities is often connected with tourism strategies (Lorentzen, 2009; Scott, 2010). Outdoor amenities have even been shown to attract the creative class and stimulate the entrepreneurial activities of rural areas (McGranahan et al., 2011; McGranahan and Wojan, 2007). The ‘experience turn’, then, entails the systemic change towards hedonistic production and consumption and the strategic implications this change has for most aspects of local development and planning. The advantage of the new approach, compared with more traditional culture-planning approaches, is that it is more sensitive to local conditions. Also, it challenges sectoral approaches of local development and planning, because experience-based place development requires cooperation across sectors (Fuglsang and Eide, 2013). However, as a growth strategy it presupposes affluence among local and global consumers and local governments, without which they may conflict over more basic needs (on individual or community levels). Particularly in small cities, a high mobility and connectivity is also required (Lassen et al., 2009; Lorentzen, 2009), which will allow more peripheral places to connect and dip into the market of specialized leisure demand (Romein, 2005). This requirement reduces the opportunities of more remote places in the experience economy.

In Scandinavia a discourse on experience economy as growth strategy has emerged, since around 2000, in which not only culture and culture industries, but also entertainment and recreation, are in play. This discourse seems to be a Scandinavian speciality, whereas other European countries talk about culture industries and Britain, in particular, of creative industries (Flew and Cunningham, 2010: 114). The way the notion of the experience economy is used in Scandinavian policy is not very consistent (Bille, 2011), but it is connected to a search for post-industrial growth trajectories.

Tracking down the experience turn of the Danish periphery

The experience economy in Danish policy

Since 2001 Danish governments have developed neoliberal approaches to the challenges of globalization, and post-industrial discourses have gained influence. In particular, the notions of culture and experience economy have found their way into industrial policies (Regeringen, 2003). Also, at regional and municipal levels the notion of the experience economy has been promoted through national government incentives (Lorentzen, 2011). The empirical analysis that follows focuses on experience-based local strategies in the Danish periphery, specifically in North Denmark. The case of Frederikshavn is discussed in depth as a critical case of experience-based urban development.

Local governments have only recently become real actors in local economic development in Denmark. In 2007 Danish municipalities were merged into larger units, and the number of municipalities decreased from 275 to 98. In connection with this change, the obligations of the municipalities were widened to include business development and culture (Kommunernes Landsforening, 2006). As a consequence of the neoliberal approach to development, national-level focus narrowed down to the two big metropolitan areas, the Copenhagen and the Aarhus areas, which are seen as national growth poles (Miljøministeriet, 2006, 2009). Danish municipalities outside of these big city regions are now in charge of their own destiny. More specifically, they became obliged to develop individual plan strategies. These strategies have been analysed by Caspersen (2009) and his survey shows how the notion of the experience economy and related concepts have been integrated into many individual municipal strategies. The survey of the strategies shows that business development is the most important theme (67 of the municipalities) followed by urban expansion (47 of the municipalities) and infrastructure (45 of the municipalities). The topics of culture, (34 of the municipalities), leisure, (30 of the municipalities), and experience economy, (28 of the municipalities), are considered very important strategic fields as well. Some municipalities also intend to work with cultural heritage (11 of the municipalities).

Experience-based strategies in North Denmark

North Denmark is an interesting case of experience-based local development strategies. The region has a population of 0.6 million (one-tenth of the Danish population) and consists of 11 municipalities. Its capital city, Aalborg, is the fourth largest city in Denmark, with over 100,000 inhabitants, and is the only large city in the region. The region is suffering from industrial restructuring, and has a long tradition of experimenting with regional and local development initiatives, among other things related to information and communications technology (ICT), tourism and, more recently, the experience economy. The region is known for its attractive coastline, which is suitable for tourism in summer. The economy is characterized by a high share of employment in traditional industries and the primary sector and a low share of employment in the knowledge-based branches such as business services. Tourism-related services employ a comparatively high share of the labour force. The general level of education is quite low. Knowledge-based services and industries, as well as culture offerings, are concentrated in the regional capital, where the education level is the highest. Half of the municipalities are characterized by demographic shrinkage and unemployment is comparatively high (Lorentzen and Krogh, 2009).

The following analysis of the municipal plan strategies is based on public municipal policy documents dating from 2007 to 2009, accessible on the municipal websites. In each municipality interviews with key municipal employees were held in spring 2009. The interviewees described and commented on the experience economy dimensions of the local strategies (experience-based business innovation, the development of experience industries and the development of attractive urban and environmental qualities). It soon appeared that the ideas of the ‘experience economy’ were translated into ‘culture, leisure, and the experience economy’ in the strategies.

The review of the municipal documents shows that not only have all the municipalities approached the topic of the experience economy in their plan strategies in one way or the other, but they also regard the issue of the experience economy strategically as an overall approach to local development. It is a way to solve problems of high unemployment rates and demographic decrease.

A few quotations illustrate this discursive turn towards the logic of experience economy. Jammerbugt municipality introduces the new consumption-based approach to local development: ‘When the basic supply is in place, focus is more on the good life including quality of life, health, nature and a healthy environment. We therefore choose to focus on the values that are important to us as citizens and visitors’ (Jammerbugt Kommune, 2007: 10). ‘To us this means that we maintain and develop landscapes and authentic cultural milieus to give the local territories identity so that they may represent a spectacular environment for our tourism and businesses’ (Jammerbugt Kommune, 2007: 12).

Hjørring municipality wants to develop the cultural factors of attraction of the municipal area through ‘an exciting and lively urban life’, to ‘renovate the cities and make them more beautiful’ (Hjørring Kommune, 2007: 15) and ‘to enhance cultural life and civic associations because cultural life contributes to the favourable environment for industrial development and settlement’ (Hjørring Kommune, 2007: 16).

Vesthimmerland municipality wants to ‘develop the good life: We want to keep and attract new citizens of all age groups by being known as a good place to live and work’ (Vesthimmerlands Kommune, 2007: 5). There is a focus on leisure and recreation in connection with better access to recreational areas and better culture supply (e.g. a new House of Music in the main city of Aars). This approach should enable Vesthimmerland to position itself as an attractive suburb to the regional capital.

Thisted Municipality would like to ‘develop and market products with Thy as a special quality’ (Thisted Kommune, 2007: 31), ‘to develop cluster economies within e.g. IT, energy, design arts and crafts’ (p. 31) and ‘to develop tourism based on the natural environment: natural based tourism, facilities for surfers, wellness tourism’ (p. 33). Furthermore, ‘a dynamic culture life attracts investment and is an important factor for settlement and tourism’ (p. 36). In this way experience-based tourism, a more diversified industrial development and using culture as factor of attraction are combined in the strategy of Thisted.

Across the 11 municipal strategies three local development outcomes of the experience economy can be identified: (1) attraction of new citizens by the enhancement of quality of place; (2) increased employment through an expansion of tourism; and (3) wider impacts in terms of industrial diversification. The municipalities differ with respect to their focus on these three strategies.

The regional capital (Aalborg) integrates all three perspectives as might be expected, but two of the small rural municipalities (Rebild, Thisted) also apply this broad scope. Two more urbanized municipalities focus on settlement and the broadening of the industrial development (Frederikshavn, Hjørring). Three municipalities (Jammerbugt, Vesthimmerland and Morsø) want to combine the development of year-round tourism with the attraction of new citizens (and reduce emigration). By developing new amenities they hope to both meet the wishes of the local population and create a basis for year-round tourism. Two municipalities (Brønderslev and Mariagerfjord) see themselves as suburbs to the regional capital and focus mainly on settlement by the attraction of families from Aalborg through an enhanced offer of leisure activities. Finally, the smallest municipality, the island of Læsø, focuses only on the development of new amenities to stimulate tourism. It can be seen how the different strategic goals reflect the geographic characteristics of the municipalities (urban, suburban, coastal and remote).

Following the neoliberal approach to local development, most of the municipalities seek to develop their own competitive profile. To this end they want to develop attractive cities, often in combination with attractive natural environments. The difficulty with this individual approach is that the cities are too small to compete globally, with the regional capital as the only exception. Furthermore, spectacular natural surroundings are a regional, more than a municipal, characteristic and are hardly able to profile individual municipalities. This has been understood by one of the municipalities, Frederikshavn, where a particular profile has been developed by focusing on activities and events.

The experience turn also necessitates institutional change and changes in governance. The new focus appears institutionally not only in the text of the plan strategies, but also in the establishment of new departments and positions within municipal organizations. The field of leisure, culture and experience economy is institutionally divided between the departments of children and youth (leisure and culture) as a welfare service including public libraries, continuation schools or local museums, whereas experience economy is connected mostly with tourism and business development sections. New forms of governance develop in the field of leisure, culture and experience. Projects, subsidies and partnerships characterize the field and involve business partners as well as representatives of the civil society. Voluntary work should generate innovative ideas for projects and provide labour for the realization of them. The private sector is invited to contribute to the development of expensive flagship projects. Project groups are formed to search for funding from the municipal, regional, national or European level. In Rebild municipality, the need for a change of governance is expressed as such:

In relation to voluntary work the lack of continuity and long-term involvement both from users and volunteers will be a field where new models of cooperation, organization and partnership is needed. Another possibility, which also represents a challenge, is to expand the cooperation and the mutual relations between business life and culture life. The potential in relation to this is that an increased cooperation and partnership around flagship projects may contribute to create synergy for both businesses and culture life in Rebild Municipality.

(Rebild Kommune, 2007: 23)

Thus, the municipality will try to ‘dig civic gold’ (Stevenson, 2004) by involving volunteers and voluntary organizations more and, at the same time, involve the private sector in public–private partnerships in entrepreneurial endeavours to develop the assets of urban areas (Healey, 2007: 23).

Constructing the experience economy in Frederikshavn

Frederikshavn is the northernmost municipality in Denmark, and it has, for more than a decade, been experimenting with new approaches to local development. The total number of inhabitants is 62,000 and the main city of the same name has 23,000 inhabitants. The locality represents an unhappy combination of industrial decline of traditional industries, demographic shrinkage, very low levels of education and geographic peripherality. The case study of Frederikshavn is based on interviews with key actors in the public and private sector, document analysis and statistical analysis derived from several research projects since 2007.

The construction of the experience economy in Frederikshavn has taken place since 1998, which represented a particularly low point with the closure of shipyards, limitation of fisheries and a steep drop in shopping tourism due to the abolition of tax-free sales on ferries. In this state of crisis different actors started to think in innovative ways about the future of the city. They saw the hierarchy of the welfare state as unsuited to the new situation of emergency, and therefore the usual procedures of planning were set aside to make room for experiments (Therkildsen et al., 2009). The local politicians of the city council chose to invest their way out of the crisis. Three big projects were launched, namely an expansion of the local sports stadium, a new ice stadium (both in 2005) and a House of Arts (in 2004). These investments were perceived as a ‘quantum leap into the economy of the big events’, in the words of the technical director. Simultaneously, the municipality also invested in the quality of the city and gradually developed the city centre into an experience area with maritime decoration, attractive squares, illumination, outdoor cafés and summer music performances. Later initiatives were directed at the surrounding landscapes, which were made more accessible for sports and recreation. One of these landscape projects was quite cheap, but nonetheless very important: the erection of a palm beach with more than a hundred real palm trees (kept in greenhouses during winter) and many leisure facilities, in the north of the city in summer 2004. The palm beach soon took on an iconic status as a brand and symbol of the new development.

A long list of festivals saw the light of the day after 1998, and they continue to be held on an annual basis. Thus, today the city hosts a historic festival, a rock festival, a festival of light, a film festival and, most recently, a festival of Icelandic horses, and a much disputed city-wide role play simulating the German occupation in 1940. Most of the festivals were initiated by civic initiative and have attracted an increasing number of guests. Through the combined efforts of many civic, public and business actors, the city organized shows with Bill Clinton and Bryan Adams in 2006 in the new stadium. The House of Arts developed a rather ambitious programme for a small city. Compared with the public and civic sector, the private sector was less inclined to apply experience economy approaches. However, some tourist service providers developed special experiences such as themed hotel stays, themed menus or themed restaurants. Food providers developed local food brands, and light equipment producers managed to find a world market niche in light design, thus adding an important creative dimension to a traditional industry. A major project to develop a huge holiday resort north of the city has been caught between the global financial crisis and a real estate crisis, and its outcome remains uncertain.

In summary, a local experience economy was constructed in Frederikshavn after 1998 with three key dimensions. First, local producers applied experience economy concepts to their products and services to enhance their competitiveness. Second, a few new experience-based industries emerged (such as light design). Third, initiatives were directed mainly towards the enhancement of the quality of place and there was a change of identity from an industrial to an experience city (Lorentzen, 2007). Discursive changes and new governance forms enabled this, and the many civic, public and private actors involved no doubt benefited from the ‘human scale and proximity’ (Luckman, 2009: 8) of the small city.

Institutionalization of the experience economy in Frederikshavn

After more than a decade of experiments the experience economy has been formally institutionalized in Frederikshavn with the introduction of the experience economy concept in many parts of the municipal strategy (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2008a, 2008b). A policy document (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2009) describes the experience economy in relation to a broad range of fields, namely culture, events, leisure and industrial growth, and as a driver of innovation (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2009: 8). The inter-related potential positive impacts of applying the experience economy concepts are seen as: (1) identity, profile and branding; (2) economic growth and employment; (3) development and creativity; (4) attracting and retaining citizens, firms and investment; (5) appearing attractive to tourists, guests and citizens; (6) providing a basis for private and public entrepreneurship, and for new educations in event technology and event management; and (7) welfare, quality of life and optimism. The local government may, according to the document, stimulate the experience economy in different ways, namely as an investor in facilities such as concert halls or sports stadiums, by establishing funds for cultural purposes and as an organizer or prime driver of events and cultural flagships. Also, since 2008 the experience economy has represented an important pillar in the business development strategy of Frederikshavn (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2008a). In particular, the city council wishes to develop year-round tourism through networks and clustering among firms and actors as well as by place branding. The local experience economy should be produced through cooperation across different industrial branches and organizations, such as retail, food, art, music, sports, events, culture and tourism services.

An international profile is supposed to support the development of year-round tourism. The local government should thus support the attraction of international events of different kinds. International cooperation with sister cities in other countries should be used to produce new experiences for the citizens. Local associations aiming to work with sister organizations abroad should find support from the local government. Finally, the local government intends to support cultural events of every kind and size, which can be assessed as having a positive impact on the local community (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2009: 7).

The overall municipal strategy acknowledges new forms of cooperation and new actors as an important ingredient in the strategy (p. 9). Actors thus include experience producers, other public actors at higher levels of government, knowledge centres, tourist offices and business councils, educations and civic associations. Also, within the municipal organizations new lines of cooperation are envisaged across the technical department (in charge of town planning), the business department (in charge of tourism), the children and youth department (in charge of sports and leisure) and local municipal experience producers. As many as six different municipal political committees are in charge of budgets through which experience activities can be supported (p. 14). Of particular importance are private businesses and civic organizations. Private businesses may contribute with funding, facilities, know-how and networks. They should contribute on special occasions of particular interest for them. Volunteers and voluntary organizations should represent ideas, involvement and labour force to produce experiences and events (p.9).

While the experience economy has turned into a discursive key concept in the strategy documents, the question remains as to what this means in terms of actual priorities in budgets. An estimation of the expenditures for experience economy-related activities in 2009, based on the first budget made after the approval of the new experience economy-based strategy of Frederikshavn in 2008, says 129.7 million Danish kroner (22.4 million US dollars) (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2009: 13), which is equal to 4.3 per cent of the total budget for running costs in 2009. Experience-related investment covered 5.7 per cent of the municipal investment budget in 2009, of which 3.5 per cent was related to recreation and accessibility to nature, and 2.2 per cent was related to experiences in the urban cores of the two main cities of Frederikshavn and Sæby (Frederikshavn Kommune, 2008c).

Among the running costs for experience-related activities, normal welfare facilities such as public libraries, music schools and general education activities (leisure time education in different topics is a tradition in Denmark) covered as much as 43.3 per cent of the expenditures. The budget heading for the operation of stadiums and music houses (now called experience centres in the budget language) came second. These facilities host welfare activities such as youth sports clubs, but they also serve as stages for commercial events. This covered 31.5 per cent of the experience-related expenditures. The third budget item was tourism and industrial development (14 per cent of the expenditures for experience economy development). To regard welfare services from an experience economy perspective is innovative and involves the enhancement of the visibility, accessibility and general appeal of these services. Finally, the relatively small amounts for non-municipal experience projects, the so-called ‘free money’ that can be applied for, are likely to have a considerable impact as catalyst for (voluntary) civic entrepreneurship in experience projects.

In summary, the severe crisis of Frederikshavn since 1998 induced new discourses, mobilized new actors and stimulated new forms of cooperation in a wide range of urban projects, characterized by a combination of ‘civic gold digging’ and considerable public investment. The city developed a great number and high frequency of experience offerings, experience stages and attractive urban spaces. At the very least, it developed a new entrepreneurial and integrative approach to urban development. The notion of the experience economy became institutionalized in municipal strategies towards the end of the decade, when it had already been established in the society and the economy. Many fields of municipal responsibility became subsumed under this heading and integrated in quality of place concerns for the benefit of tourists and citizens. The proximity and human scale of a small city contributed to the dynamism of this development.

Conclusion and discussion

Territorial competition strategies based on the utilization of culture in development have become frequent. Even small cities are often able to produce and host culture and creativity. In Scandinavia post-industrial strategies are more informed by notions of the experience economy. This article has established the role which experience economy concepts may play for local development through innovation, entrepreneurship and place development. The application of experience economy approaches in small cities are mostly related to (1) experience-based innovation in traditional industries such as food; (2) the development of art galleries, theme parks, outdoor equipment or services; and (3) urban regeneration, leisure and culture supply, and the staging of urban and natural environment for leisure consumption. Culture can be seen as a possible but not necessary part of an experience-based local development strategy, which also presupposes favourable structural conditions such as accessibility and affluence.

The 11 municipalities of North Denmark studied in this article have embarked on experience-based urban strategies as a response to serious challenges of industrial restructuring and a shrinking population. They hope to attract new citizens, boost tourism and develop new branches of industry. They share a focus on the natural environment as a critical asset in the attraction of citizens and tourists, and they institutionalize the experience-based strategy in the municipal organization and in governance. In most cities the planners rely widely on the volunteer sector to perform the tasks set in the strategies. The particular alliance between the municipality and the volunteer sector (and the private sector to a minor extent) is in the Frederikshavn case study shown to be very productive in developing a wide array of experience offerings for locals and tourists. The 11 strategies represent an experience turn of small city spatial development approaches. They produce integrated perceptions of the potentials and opportunities of the small cities and reinterpret the urban development resources and the actor landscape.

The new urban images produced by the strategies do not always reflect the material realities relating to, for example, the vibrancy of small city life, the actual number of tourists or the uniqueness of the experience offerings of the small cities, but they do help to mobilize urban actors and brand the place. Rather than threaten welfare, the experience economy approach leads to an enhanced focus on the users (tourists, citizens) of traditional welfare services such as culture, leisure, teaching or the protection of the environment. The rather uncritical localism (Brenner and Theodore, 2002), combined with a degree of ‘me-too-ism’ (Wait and Gibson, 2009) implying interurban competition among very similar small cities on similar things, can be questioned, as more could be achieved through combined efforts on major projects. The main drawbacks of these consumption-based strategies are, however, that they only very indirectly approach the structural challenges of the demography, employment and skills bases of the small cities. It can therefore be argued that the urgency of these problems would justify more direct interventions in these fields.

Footnotes

Funding

The quoted study Lorenzen & Krogh (2009) received funding from the Center for Regional Development at Aalborg University in 2009.

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