Place, Culture, and Quality of Life

Quality of Life (QoL) is an important aspect of place, and an attractive element of places for tourists. This chapter examines the changing relationship between culture, creativity and tourism, charting the rise of new models of tourism that drive more attention to QoL issues. These include the changing nature of mobilities, the broadening scope of cultural consumption, new technologies and the increased co-creation of experiences between residents and tourists. These changes suggest the need for a broader placemaking approach to the relationship between culture, creativity and tourism, which is important to capture the more intangible and soft elements of place. The use of creative tourism as a placemaking strategy is examined, along with the emergence of ‘urban scenes’ that drive creative consumption. Empirical evidence for the growing relationship between culture, creativity, place and QoL is derived from surveys of European culture, heritage and tourism.