Why investing in cultural infrastructure is key to building better, future-ready cities
September 05, 2025
Cultural infrastructure drives social cohesion and tourism. It helps create places people are proud to call home.
What kind of city do you want to live in? One with nothing but houses, schools, hospitals, and the super-sized highways that connect them? Or a city alive with arts and culture¡ªa place where museums, galleries, and performance spaces inspire people of all ages and identities, who come to experience all it has to offer from near and far?
I know which one I¡¯d prefer. I bet you do too.
Yet too often, arts and cultural infrastructure is treated as ¡°nice to have¡±¡ªthe whipped cream atop the sponge cake. Projects are delayed, downsized, or scrapped in favour of other things. Projects like hospitals, housing, or sports facilities. Urban planning becomes a numbers game focused entirely on population growth and the basics needed to support it.
Don¡¯t get me wrong: Of course we need schools, hospitals, and homes. But life is about more than mere survival. Without cultural infrastructure, our cities risk becoming soulless¡ªfunctional but uninspiring. Arts and culture are what makes a place worth living in. They¡¯re also essential for social cohesion, wellbeing, and economic growth.
We need to stop seeing arts and cultural infrastructure as the cream on the cake. It¡¯s not. It¡¯s the jam between the sponges that brings everything together.?
The Western Australian Museum¡¯s transformation didn¡¯t just upgrade a building¡ªit changed how people engage with culture and how the city understands itself.?
Investing in culture pays off in more ways than you might think
One of the biggest challenges in advocating for arts and cultural infrastructure is how its value is perceived. Build a hospital and you can count the beds. Build a school and you can count the enrolments. Build a sports stadium and 60,000 footy fans stream through the gates on a Saturday afternoon, decked out in their team¡¯s colours for everyone to see.
By contrast, the benefits of arts and culture aren¡¯t so obvious. They take place quietly and over time.
Take Melbourne¡¯s NGV International. More than 317,000 fashion-loving visitors flocked to the city to see the gallery¡¯s Alexander McQueen fashion exhibition¡ªmore than five packed stadiums¡¯ worth of people. Unlike sports fans, they didn¡¯t march through the streets waving ¡°I love museums¡± flags (though they were, no doubt, very stylish). They arrived in ones and twos, filling hotels and restaurants, and spending in shops over the course of four months.
That¡¯s the problem. Policymakers and the public often ask: Where¡¯s the return? The answer is there, it¡¯s just different. The economic impact of the arts and the cultural infrastructure doesn¡¯t come through dramatic spikes like sports. Its payoff accumulates steadily: through tourism, through local business activity, through city branding and identity, through the intangible pride people feel when they live in a place others want to visit. In Victoria alone, the creative industries contribute more than .
But there¡¯s more to arts and cultural investment than the economic impact. Arts and cultural engagement improve wellbeing in ways we rarely quantify but instinctively understand. I often wonder at how quick we are to invest in physical health¡ªgyms, swimming pools, sports facilities¡ªand yet hesitate to invest in arts and cultural spaces. Their benefits for mental health are just as compelling.
According to Creative Australia, . More than half go simply because it brings them joy; another quarter go to connect socially. Engaging with culture has been proven to reduce loneliness, alleviate anxiety and depression, and build inclusion.?
Without cultural infrastructure, our cities risk becoming soulless¡ªfunctional but uninspiring. Arts and culture are what makes a place worth living in.
Arts and cultural infrastructure are a catalyst for social cohesion
Cultural spaces are where cities tell their stories. They reflect who we are, help us understand where we¡¯ve come from, and provide platforms for diverse communities to highlight their heritage. They also create opportunities for everyone to engage and feel part of something bigger¡ªwhether that¡¯s a child performing in their first school play, a local artist seeing their work displayed in a gallery, or an elder sharing knowledge of First Peoples¡¯ culture.
When I first visited the Western Australian Museum in Perth back in 2011, it felt like a space that had yet to reach its full potential, even though it housed powerful exhibits like the Stolen Generations gallery. Today, after its redevelopment, it¡¯s interactive and buzzing with life. Families chat over coffee, school groups explore exhibits, and international shows like the Terracotta Warriors come to Perth because we now have the facilities to host them. That transformation didn¡¯t just upgrade a building¡ªit changed how people engage with culture and how the city understands itself.
This is especially vital in multicultural cities like those in Australia. Our nation is a tapestry of cultures, and arts and cultural infrastructure give us the space to celebrate that richness. It¡¯s also how we properly recognise and share First Nations Peoples¡¯ cultures¡ªessential for true understanding and reconciliation. Cultural centres where Indigenous stories, art, and knowledge are shared are critical to build understanding, bridge cultural divides, and shape an inclusive national identity.
The planned Living Knowledge Centre in the Murujuga National Park in Western Australia¡ªwhich is home to more than 1 million pieces of rock art created as far back as 40,000 years ago¡ªis one such project. Part of the Murujuga Tourism Precinct, commissioned by the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), the project will preserve and enhance this area for future generations.
And participation matters. I¡¯ve seen kids¡¯ faces light up when their school projects are displayed in professional galleries, or when they perform music in venues designed for world-class acoustics rather than draughty school halls. Those experiences build confidence, pride, and a lasting sense of belonging.
Murujuga National Park in Western Australia is home to more than 1 million pieces of rock art created as far back as 40,000 years ago.
Designing bold and brave cultural infrastructure that stands the test of time
When we think of the world¡¯s great cities¡ªNew York, Paris, London¡ªit¡¯s their cultural landmarks that define them. But bold cultural infrastructure isn¡¯t the exclusive domain of capital cities or global powerhouses. Any city¡ªbig or small¡ªcan use culture to transform its identity and fuel its economy.
Take the V&A Museum in Dundee, Scotland, my hometown. Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, this striking building helped re-invigorate the city¡¯s post-industrial waterfront. In its first five years, tourism to Dundee rose by 50 percent, and the museum generated ?304 million for the Scottish economy.
Another example? The Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. Once a little-known city in the Basque Country, Bilbao became an international destination almost overnight. In its first three years, the museum brought in 4 million visitors and generated €500 million in economic activity.
What do these projects have in common? They were ambitious. Unconventional. Sometimes controversial. But their cities reaped the rewards¡ªnot just in tourism dollars but in pride, identity, and global relevance.
Cultural infrastructure has the power to reshape a city¡¯s future¡ªwhether you¡¯re a capital or a regional centre. Do you think Sydney would be the destination it is today without its world-famous Opera House? I certainly don¡¯t.
Cultural infrastructure is the foundation of future-ready cities
If we don¡¯t invest in arts and cultural infrastructure, we miss out¡ªnot just on exhibitions or performances, but on the wider benefits these places deliver every day. We miss opportunities to support the industries that make cities dynamic and economically resilient. And we miss the chance to build places that people are proud to call home¡ªand that others want to visit.
More importantly, we lose the spaces that bring people together. Cultural infrastructure connects us¡ªto each other, to our histories, and to our shared futures. It strengthens social cohesion, fosters our identities, and reminds us that cities are more than their highways and hospitals. They¡¯re about people.
