Publications

Commissioned by the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN) in partnership with the Culture Committee of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), GCDN’s 2026 research report is now available for download.

Authored by Jordi Baltà Portolés and Christos Carras, the report examines how cultural districts and local governments can successfully work together to shape cultural policy and serve their communities. It asks a practical question: how can cultural-sector organizations and the public sector interface and interact to support successful, mutually beneficial collaboration?

Drawing together findings from two surveys conducted with cultural districts and local governments, a panel of experts, and nine global case studies spanning Europe, India, North America, West Africa, South America, and New Zealand, the report proposes a typological framework for cultural districts themselves and concludes with recommendations addressed to both districts and governments.

GCDN is pleased to share AEA Consulting’s 2025 Cultural Infrastructure Index (CII), the tenth edition of its annual scan of major capital investments in the cultural sector. Since 2016, the CII has tracked cultural infrastructure projects with budgets of US$10 million or more that were publicly announced or completed. The 2025 Index looks back across the completed projects of the past decade, alongside analysis of projects announced or completed in 2025.

Across 2016-2025, the CII tracked 3,150 major cultural infrastructure projects worldwide. Of these, 1,521 projects were completed, representing US$78.7 billion in capital investment, and 1,629 projects were announced with planned investment of US$80.6 billion. In 2025 alone, the Index captured 452 projects, including 267 announced projects, the largest single-year pipeline recorded since tracking began. While the number of projects has generally grown over the decade, 2025 marks a notable divergence in value, with the lowest capital investment in completed projects and the highest in announced projects of any single year.

This year’s Index also surfaces shifts in how cultural facilities are being framed, as community infrastructure with stronger expectations around experience, flexibility, public space, sustainability, and ethical stewardship. The 2025 CII introduces libraries as a new category, highlights cultural districts as increasingly policy-driven interventions, and notes a growing presence of Indigenous-led or focused projects, particularly in the last four years.