Developed for the Inter-American Development Bank, we demonstrated how creative and cultural industries can transform urban areas, providing evidence, frameworks, and case studies that set a global reference point for culture-led regeneration. 

Our work highlighted the critical role of cultural industries in breathing new life into post-industrial and underinvested neighbourhoods. Drawing on practice-based examples, we showed how investments in creative hubs, cultural districts, and place-based programming deliver not only economic growth but also social cohesion and urban identity. 

We also analysed how cities across Europe and beyond are embedding culture into urban policy, benchmarking approaches and identifying common success factors such as adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, clustering creative industries, and designing inclusive cultural spaces. 

The resulting handbook provided policymakers, practitioners, and funders with practical tools for embedding culture into urban development strategies. It has been used internationally to guide regeneration programmes, strengthen the case for investment in culture, and demonstrate how creative industries can deliver long-term impact in economic, social, and spatial terms.