On Some Challenges and Conditions for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to be an Effective Economic Re-activator

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00796.x Byline: BEATRIZ PLAZA (1) Keywords: urban regeneration; museums as economic engines; conditions for effectiveness; Bilbao Abstract: Abstract The mission of a museum is essentially cultural, however this is not the case for all museums. There are a minority of universally famous museums, like the Tate Liverpool, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Tate Modern London, the new forthcoming Louvre-Lens (France), the Guggenheim-Hermitage in Vilnius (Lithuania) and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) whose principal aim is the re-activation (and/or the diversification) of the economy of their territories, in addition to the obvious cultural aim. The effectiveness of a large heritage investment in developing a city depends on at least four variables. First, heritage investments become effective employment creators only to the extent that they become effective tourism magnets. Second, the impact of investments on cultural heritage could be negative if the heritage industry is a big portion of the whole economy. Third, the more the redevelopment zone's markets are integrated, the easier the absorption of price tensions caused by urban revitalization. Fourth, the greater the productivity of the city's economy, the greater the absorption of price tensions. The aim of this essay is to give empirical support to these hypotheses for the case of Bilbao and the Guggenheim Museum. Resume La mission d'un musee est essentiellement culturelle, meme si ce n'est pas toujours le cas. En effet, bien que de notoriete universelle, comme le Tate Liverpool, le musee Guggenheim Bilbao, le Tate Modern de Londres, le futur Louvres de Lens, le Guggenheim-Hermitage de Vilnius en Lituanie et le Guggenheim d'Abou Dhabi aux Emirats arabes unis, une minorite de musees a principalement pour but de raviver (et/ou de diversifier) l'economie de leur territoire, outre un but culturel manifeste. En termes de developpement d'une ville, l'efficacite d'un gros investissement patrimonial depend d'au moins quatre variables. D'abord, ce type d'investissement ne devient createur d'emplois performant que dans la mesure ou il reussit a devenir un pole d'attraction touristique. Ensuite, l'impact de l'investissement sur le patrimoine culturel peut se reveler nefaste si la promotion du patrimoine occupe une grande part de l'economie. Troisiemement, plus les marches de la zone en reamenagement sont integres, plus il est facile d'absorber les tensions sur les prix nees de la revitalisation urbaine. Quatriemement, plus forte est la productivite de l'economie de la ville, plus importante est l'absorption des tensions sur les prix. Ce travail vise a apporter un soutien empirique a ces hypotheses dans le cas de Bilbao et du musee Guggenheim. Author Affiliation: (1)Faculty of Economics, University of the Basque Country, Spain Article note: Beatriz Plaza (beatriz.plaza@ehu.es), Faculty of Economics, University of the Basque Country, Avda. Lehendakari Agirre 83, 48015 Bilbao, Spain.