ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 explores the cultural aspects of rural regeneration and how in many places there has been a shift from rural protectionism and urban containment to developing a consumption-based ‘new marketplace countryside’. But it also highlights how not all rural areas are able to capitalise on such assets to the same degree. The chapter identifies that in contrast to urban areas, there has been surprisingly little focus to date on the importance of culture for delivering rural regeneration. Critically, in a number of rural areas attempts have been made to harness the particularities of the rural creative economy beyond traditional forms of rural arts and heritage and / or urban creativity models, as well as through approaches that focus more broadly on the role of culture in health and wellbeing.
